The Lift
by Breyvan
Summary: The Lift - Yoruichi and Soifon have a misunderstanding. Maybe getting stuck in a lift together will give them the time needed to sort things out. The Hunted - Sequel to The Lift which follows Yoruichi & Soifon's lives afterwards.
1. The Lift Part 1

**The lift  
>Part 1<strong>

"You're one hard person to track down." Yoruichi grinned as she saw the smaller woman visibly jump, clearly not expecting anyone to be around at this hour.

"Who are y-" Soifon stared in disbelief after she turned around to see Yoruichi standing there with a smug toothy grin plastered across her face. "How the bloody hell did you get here?" A million other questions passed through Soi's mind as soon as she had finished asking that one. "Scratch that, why are you even – Never mind I don't care, what I do care about is that you leave at once." Soifon whirled back around and stormed off down the barely lit, deserted office corridor. She tightened her grip on her briefcase as she heard footsteps following her. "I thought I told you to leave."

"I am." Yoruichi responded simply, making sure to remain a few steps behind the shorter woman. "And to answer your other questions I came through the door and I'm here to see you."

"I do _not_ want to see you." Soifon was going to throw a few extra insults onto her statement but sighed in relief when she turned right and saw the lift that would save her from having to be around the woman any longer. Her relief soon vanished when she noticed the woman was still behind her as she waited for the lift to reach the right floor after pressing the button, a little harder than needed. Thankfully the doors opened before she turned around to snap at Yoruichi again, annoyed at how a part of her was happy to see the taller woman again. She quickly hurried into the lift and pushed the ground floor button, sighing with relief when doors started to close.

Just before the doors closed shut however, Yoruichi managed to slip through them just at the right moment so Soifon couldn't tell her to get out. Soifon scowled at Yoruichi who returned the look with an innocent smile, "You told me to leave and this is the way out so -"

"You could have taken the other one." Soifon cut her off impatiently.

"Ah but that would have taken longer for me to leave." Yoruichi grinned back. Soifon decided against saying anything, realising that the woman wanted to get a reaction out of her so she settled on glaring at the indicator above the doors that showed them which floor they were currently passing, silently cursing her office building for having so many levels.

"Soo...how've you been?" Yoruichi asked, wondering if all skyscraper type buildings played the same music in elevators to purposely piss off the passengers and was very pleased she didn't have to be stuck behind a desk with that music ready to greet her every day.

"Why do you want to see me?" Soifon asked after silently counting to 10 and only managed to reach 5.

"There is a misunderstanding between us; I would like to correct it." Yoruichi stated truthfully, deciding to not play too many games with Soi in case it just it pissed the shorter woman off even more.

"A _misunderstanding._" Soifon clenched her jaw as she repeated the word. Yoruichi gulped knowing she should have found a better way to word it. Before she could correct her mistake, the floor beneath them lurched to a stop with a shudder. Both women stumbled slightly from the jerk but managed to keep their balance as the lights flicked dangerously before turning back on. The main difference however was that they felt the lift no longer moving and a quick glance at the indicator showed them that the lift had stopped between floors 31 and 30.

Soifon pressed the ground floor button while Yoruichi watched in silence, it proved useless however as they remained stationary. Sighing in defeat Soifon pressed the emergency button and then continued to press the ground floor button when nothing visible happened.

"I don't think that's going to work." Yoruichi stated, bracing herself for whatever snappy remark Soifon would come up only to find herself being ignored by the short chinese woman this time round.

"I can't believe this." Soifon muttered under her breath, giving up her attack on the panel of buttons – Yoruichi in turn held her breath hoping that she didn't become the next target. There wasn't really a great list of hiding places unless she pressed herself into the corner behind said woman and prayed that she just didn't turn around. "Well this is just great...just fantastic." Soifon sighed, running her hand through her hair out of exasperation.

"Well I'm glad you think so." Yoruichi replied

"Shut up!" Soifon snapped impatiently whilst glaring at her with a look that could kill. Yoruichi smiled nervously back unsure of how to continue without having Soifon snap and resort to physical violence – there wasn't a lot of room and she didn't want to accidently hurt Soifon.

* * *

><p>The music playing in the elevator was grating on Yoruichi's nerves, she had been sat silently for a long time with that dam tune playing on repeat while any glance in Soifon's direction told her the girl was fuming, no doubt finding a way to blame Yoruichi for the lift breaking down.<p>

The music finished.

Yoruichi sighed in relief.

The music started to drone back up into life.

"That's it!" Yoruichi leapt to her feat, startling Soifon greatly as she ripped the panel underneath the buttons off to reveal a bunch of multicoloured wires. Yoruichi grabbed the bunch and pulled at them in hopes that one would be connected to the music, tearing the clump of wires out. Sparks shot out like fireworks. Soifon jumped to her feet with a yelp, moving away from the sudden sparks. Yoruichi however glared at the snapped wires poking out of the panel – the music was still playing.

"What the hell Yoruichi!" Soifon wacked the older woman on her shoulder.

"I couldn't take that _dam_ music any longer!" Yoruichi yelled back, more at the sound speakers the music continued to pour out of than at Soi.

"Well clearly that didn't work – you probably just made our situation worse!"

"It was worth the shot if it meant shutting off that song!" Yoruichi told her as she sat back down where she had been.

"God, just stay there and don't touch anything else!" Soifon scolded as she sat back down. She saw Yoruichi about to speak and cut her off instantly, "And be quiet."

* * *

><p>"Huh...101" Yoruichi mused out loud "what an odd number," she concluded after finally counting the rounded diamonds engraved into the ceiling tiles as decoration.<p>

"You just can't stay quite can you?" Soifon snapped from the corner she had compacted herself into neatly.

"I'm sorry but there's not much to do around here but talk."

"Well I don't want to talk to you." Soifon stated

"Who else are you going to talk to? The walls?" Yoruichi turned to look at the wall she was leaning against, "Why hello there, I'm Yoruichi...hmm what was that? Yes I would have to agree, she is acting like a child!" Yoruichi glared back at Soifon after she had finished her mock conversation.

"I am not acting like a child!" Soifon shot back at her.

"Yes you are."

"I am not!"

"Says the woman who is sat pouting in the corner." Yoruichi pointed out, taking note of how Soifon was sat with her arms crossed with her head ducked down. Soifon refused to look at Yoruichi this time, preferring to glare daggers at the floor instead.

"This certainly is maturity at its best." Yoruichi muttered after a moment of silence between them where only the cheesy music could be heard playing.

"Oh you are one to talk!" Soifon growled. Yoruichi groaned, knowing where it was heading already. "You are hardly one to talk of maturity after taking advantage of me!"

"I did not take advantage of you!" She repeated for what felt like the thousandth time.

"I was drunk! You had no right to do-do that! My judgement was impaired!" Soifon stood up, furious at the way Yoruichi was trying to dismiss her behaviour.

"I was drunk too ok, I'm not trying to use that as an excuse but you came onto me just as strongly as I did you and you know full well you consented so don't even try accusing me of raping you!" Yoruichi sprang to her feet as well, not caring much for having Soifon towering over her while she was still sat on the floor.

"You used me as a one night stand!" Soifon countered, annoyed that the older woman did have a point or two over her in this argument.

"You didn't really give me a chance to prove otherwise. You attacked me and ran off while I still trying to wake up."

"You're telling me that you could have viewed us sitting happily having breakfast while reading the morning paper?" Soifon asked and smirked as Yoruichi struggled to find an answer before she threw up her hands in defeat.

"Alright so maybe it wouldn't have been all sunshine and daisies but I would like to think I could have at least got you leave without earning a black eye."

"So you would have just ditched me?" Soifon asked with a raised eyebrow, interested to see what the taller woman could come up with next to save her skin.

"Ugh! Stop twisting my words – I don't know what would have happened but I do know I enjoyed that night out because of you." Yoruichi finished, Soifon looking slightly startled by the truthful confession. "I know it's not the best way to start a relationship but I do mean it ok, I did enjoy that night with you." Yoruichi added in a calmer tone. Soifon remained silent, her emotionless mask falling into place as she started to think over what Yoruichi said. "Well?" Yoruichi asked, not hiding the hint of hopefulness in her voice.

"I need to think this over." Soifon finally told her and moved back to her corner of the lift. Yoruichi nodded as she too sat back down with a sigh as she noticed the music playing now that they were no longer shouting, _I'm going to develop a nervous twitch anytime I hear this music after this._

After a few moments of not speaking to one another again Yoruichi broke the silence once more, wanting to know why Soifon was so mad at her when they had cleared up the 'little' misunderstanding.

"Why are you holding this against me so much? If you really didn't want it to happen you would have said no. We may have been drunk but we both knew what we were doing that night."

"It's not that." Soifon admitted with a sigh. Yoruichi looked at her, completed confused.

"What?"

"I am saying that really isn't what I'm angry about." Soifon explained without looking at Yoruichi once.

"That's what you've been accusing me of all this time so if it's not the problem, what is it?"

"I'd really prefer to not go into it." Soifon mumbled just loud enough for Yoruichi to hear her.

"No way, you're not backing out of this now, not after you tried saying I raped you." Yoruichi said with a teasing tone though determination flared in her eyes. Soifon gave a quick glance at the stubborn purple haired woman, knowing that she did have a point.

"T-Thawasmyfirstime." Soifon answered, faster than normal so as to jumble the words up on purpose as she felt her cheeks heat up from embarrassment. She glanced at Yoruichi who was watching her intently with a raised eyebrow. "Wanna try saying that again but slower this time?" the older woman asked.

"That night...it-it was my first time w-with someone." Soifon risked looking towards the older woman, half expecting to see her fighting back a laugh but instead saw understanding shinning back at her from Yoruichi's golden eyes. "I wanted it to be...I dunno...be special I guess." Soi mumbled sheepishly, knowing full well she was showing a side of herself she tried her best to keep hidden.

Yoruichi smiled warmly at this "I thought it was very special," and she couldn't help her smile growing wider when she saw Soifon's blush deepen as she too recalled their night together. "At least now I know why you hit me I guess," Yoruichi chuckled to herself, trying to lighten the mood a little as she recalled her wakeup call that morning. "You sure can pack a punch by the way. Have you done any training?"

"I have a black belt in Kung Fu and Judo." Soifon stated simply despite glowing with pride from her skill being complimented.

"That's awesome! – I have a black belt in Karate, Aikido and Judo. See, there's something we have in common." Yoruichi pointed out, reminding Soifon of her earlier proposal to try dating one another. Soifon just smiled back at her without saying anything and the music continued to play through the sound system.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry." Soifon broke the routine by speaking first this time round. Yoruichi blinked at her, confused as to why she was getting an apology. "I shouldn't have hit you, you didn't do anything wrong...I guess I freaked out, I'm not normally that impulsive."<p>

"Ah don't worry about it; it was my idea to go back to my place anyway." Yoruichi shrugged the apology off with a dismissive wave. Soifon arched an eyebrow at hearing her say that.

"As I recall I'm the one who suggested we find someplace more private." Soifon countered when she caught the hidden undertone of pride in Yoruichi's voice.

"I know I made the first move." Yoruichi replied smugly, grinning when Soifon paused.

"I was the one who asked you for the dance in the first place." Soifon smirked triumphantly at having won the little debate and snickered as Yoruichi sat with her mouth opening and closing, unable to think of what to reply back with, knowing that Soifon had won. Finally she gave up.

"And I can't thank you enough for that." She admitted with a genuine smile spreading across her face. Soifon felt the light blush spread across her face as she melted into that smile. The comfortable silence that settled between them was ruined as they both noticed the music still playing through the speakers.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi's left eye twitched. "What is taking them so long?" I didn't realise that fixing a broken lift would be such a big deal, I mean aren't they trained for this type of thing?" She spoke through a clenched jaw, doing her best to not lose her temper now that her chances with Soifon were beginning to improve.<p>

"Well it is late; most people left hours ago. The place is on lock down for the night." Soifon pointed out, glancing at her watch to look at the time. They had been stuck in the lift for a good 30 minutes although she was beginning to like Yoruichi's presence more so than she had at first – it had taking a lot of will power to not beat the crap out of her and she was really glad she had managed to remain calm, she doubted Yoruichi would have admitted liking Soi and asked her for a date if she had been given a nose bleed.

"You're telling me there's no security guard or someone keeping an eye on things?" Yoruichi bit her lip anxiously, she had found no security when she broke into the place and she wasn't keen on the idea of spending the night stuck inside the tin can.

"There is someone but if he's doing his rounds then we're stuck waiting till he goes back to the control room." Soifon explained, making a mental note to hire an extra person for the night duty to avoid this from happening again.

"Great...It'll be our luck that he just left the room right before it stopped too." Yoruichi muttered, shifting to fully stretch out against the floor with her hands under her head to provide some comfort.

"What are you doing?" Soifon asked, raising an eyebrow at the other woman's behaviour.

"I'm getting comfy – we could be here a while." Yoruichi replied simply as she turned her head in Soifon's direction, noticing that she looked rather uncomfortable from having packed herself neatly into the corner and couldn't help but chuckle at her luck.


	2. The Lift Part 2

**Part 2**

"Dun dun dun, du-dun dun duun. Dun dun dun, du-dun dun duun. Dun dun – Argh! I can't even hum it without it driving me mad!" Yoruichi whined while throwing a mini tantrum on the floor, rubbing her temple with both hands in an attempt to erase the song from her mind. She looked at Soifon at hearing her chuckle at her childish behaviour. "What? We've been stuck in here for hours with that playing _constantly!_" Yoruichi threw her arms up, indicating to the speakers above them imbedded into the corner ceiling tiles.

"We have only been here for an hour." Soifon corrected, rolling her eyes. Yoruichi folded her arms, pouting though couldn't remain silent for very long.

"Wanna play eye spy?" Yoruichi asked, not sounding too hopeful at the idea of said game.

"What?" Soifon laughed in disbelief at the random suggestion.

"Hey, at least I made you laugh." Yoruichi happily pointed out. Soifon just chuckled at this, shaking her head at the woman with a small smile forming across her lips.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi rolled onto her stomach, she'd shifted positions many times out of restlessness and this was the best one that allowed the most comfort while still letting her get a good view of Soifon, the chinese woman who was still sat in the corner watching Yoruichi with a bemused expression. "Had I known our second date would have turned out like this, I would have brought some things along with me."<p>

"I don't recall making any statement about this being classed as a date."

"Well it is just the two of us." Yoruichi pointed out.

"I believed that should I agree to go out with you, you would have wanted to make the best impression. Given the lack of possibilities available to us presently, I don't see how that could happen." Soifon pointed out.

"And I know it could happen." Yoruichi sat up, Soifon's breath hitched at seeing the determination glinting deep within those golden eyes currently locked on hers.

"W-well I am learning quite fast that you are a very self assured person." Soifon couldn't help but stammer as she found herself getting lost in that strong gaze, so much so she was rooted to the spot when Yoruichi stalked closer to her, like a cat locked onto its prey. Soifon gulped as Yoruichi leaned in dangerously close, their bodies almost touching – her hot breath sending shivers down Soi's spine causing her to shudder. Yoruichi grinned at seeing Soifon's reaction.

"Just think of what else you could learn about me." Yoruichi whispered, purposely brushing her lips against Soi's ear and smirked when Soifon gasped from the contact. Yoruichi pulled away rather reluctantly and returned to her side of the elevator, making sure to show no outward signs that being that close to Soifon again had made her body burn with desire though once she was settled she did allow herself to glance at Soifon, still rooted to the spot looking rather flushed; she clearly hadn't expected such a bold move from Yoruichi, who smirked, feeling quite proud of herself.

"You ok over there?" Yoruichi couldn't hide the smugness in her voice if someone had paid her to.

"...Y-yes..." Soifon stammered, not sounding too sure of that fact.

"Would you like me check for you?" Yoruichi propped herself up eagerly.

"T-that's quite alright!" Soifon snapped, regaining some of her composure at seeing the movement. Yoruichi chuckled at Soi's reaction as she settled back down onto the floor.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi shifted again; no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get comfortable and she was positive the temperature was increasing, she pulled at the top of jacket around her neck hoping it would give some sense of relief but didn't take it off despite wanting to – Soifon was dressed in a suit and was apparently fine with the temperature and she wasn't keen on showing a weakness just yet, she was still getting to know her after all Yoruichi reasoned to herself before flicking her hair out the way to press the back of neck against the wall, letting the cool feel of it work wonders as cold shivers ran down her spine and sighed happily.<p>

Soifon observed Yoruichi's behaviour from the corner of her eye, wondering if she should say something or not but decided against it. She's spotted a few things she considered odd but there wasn't enough and didn't want to sound like an idiot if she was wrong so she continued her silent observations. At this point she realised she couldn't observe in silence since that music was still playing.

"Whoever picked that song to play nonstop is gonna find their sorry ass fired in the morning." Soifon half growled, glaring up at the speakers in hopes they would melt under her intensive stare.

"Dam, I'm glad I got you to warm up to me – don't think I could have survived all this time with you glaring at me like that." Yoruichi chimed in sounding very relieved – from speaking the truth or from having a distraction Soifon didn't know but she laughed all the same and her gaze softened when she focused back on the copper skinned woman.

"I don't think I could stay mad at you for long." Soifon admitted truthfully before she could stop herself with a slight blush consuming her face yet again.

"W-what?" Yoruichi found herself caught off guard by that revelation though quickly recovered, "I dunno, you managed quite well for a couple days."

"That's only because we had absolutely no contact." Soifon pointed out and Yoruichi knew this was true. They hadn't even exchanged phone numbers from being so caught up in one another that night, she considered herself lucky that they had found it necessary to swap names or she wouldn't have known where to start in looking for Soifon. "Even when you did find me I kept engaging you instead of ending the call like I should have done...It felt more like I was fighting to remain angry at you than it was to give in to my feelings."

"Feelings?" Yoruichi asked encouraging Soifon to keep talking, hearing her speak soothed her somehow in a way that she really needed right now as she glanced at the sealed doors again and felt the steal wall behind her that no longer seemed comforting, it was towering over her, unyielding in its oppressive strength along with the others that sealed her in place - she shook her head in an attempt to rid her mind of such thoughts.

"This will sound crazy but when I saw you at that club I-I felt drawn to you and when I was with you it felt-it felt right..." Soifon trailed off in an attempt to save some of dignity by not saying how much she found herself thinking of Yoruichi and she had been worried that Yoruichi would give up and stop calling her. She was expecting Yoruichi to laugh at her but again found the woman smiling at her warmly as she did before.

"I don't think that sounds crazy...anything you do can't be crazier than me practically stalking you just to get you to talk to me." Yoruichi chuckled, trying not to openly admit that she felt the same way and that she thought she was the crazy one for spending days trying to track down one person who she had only met once.

"Now that you mention it, how did you find me?" Soifon asked, genuinely curious. Yoruichi smiled sheepishly while swiftly stretching to try and distract the shorter woman from her answer.

"Oh once I found your number is was easier." she waved her hand dismissively, again pulling at her jacket nervously as the movement made her hand strike the wall, a reminder of that she was sealed shut in a lift. Her eyes darted around and settled on the sealed doors, her mind toying over the idea of prying them open and somehow scrambling to freedom.

"Yoruichi are you alright?" Soifon's eyes narrowed after catching sight of the fear that glinted in Yoruichi's eyes for a brief moment and how she seemed to shrink in on herself, pressing herself against the wall like she was hoping to fall through it.

"Wha - yeah, I'm fine." Yoruichi forced a bright smile across her face.

"If you say so..." Soifon mumbled back, _you don't look it..._

* * *

><p>Yoruichi ran her hand through her hair for what felt like the one hundredth time, her foot tapping repeatedly at a nervous pace. She unzipped her jacket somewhat so she no longer felt like she was being strangled by it and again cast her eyes over Soifon. The shorter woman had remained motionless in her corner for some time now and she appeared to be sleeping. It was hard to tell since her head was bowed low, hiding her face from view and not being able to see those stormy grey eyes or hear her voice was proving problematic to Yoruichi, it felt like she lost her anchor keeping her secure and if Soi was asleep, she didn't want disturb her.<p>

Without Soifon to help distract her though, her mind started to play tricks on her and it wasn't the first time she had to fight off the feeling that the walls were closing in on her, cutting off her air supply inch by inch and she silently cursed the night watch man for leaving his post for the long.

"How could he not hear it? He must have heard it!" Yoruichi exclaimed, jumping to her feet and rushing at the button panel – Soifon jumped awake at the sudden outburst and registered what was going on when Yoruichi started pressing the emergency button repeatedly, not letting up her barrage on the button for one second.

"Yoru-" Soifon fails to stifle a yawn and unable to finish her sentence Soi watches Yoruichi slam her hand onto the button and storm away from it in frustration to start pacing back and forth in front of the closed doors.

"I mean what the hell is he doing out there? The lift has stopped, it's not brain surgery!" Yoruichi shouts at the doors, slamming her hands into them, opened palmed like she was trying to push them away from her, she doesn't take any notice of Soifon pushing herself to her feet – her silver eyes focused intently on Yoruichi as she continues to vent her frustration. Soifon however saw the outburst for what it really was and was assessing the situation, working out the best way to calm the now erratic Yoruichi. "This is your fault." Soifon's eyes widen in shock at this accusation.

"My fault?" Soifon blinked, failing to see how on earth the lift breaking down was her fault.

"If you had talked to me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to track you down here tonight and we wouldn't have gotten stuck in here at all!" Yoruichi slammed her fist into the door again to stress her point, reminding them both of the fact they were confined. Soifon's eye's narrowed when she judged the amount of strength put behind the punch this time round and the lack of reaction Yoruichi had from slamming her hand into the steel surface.

"Well I'm sorry but I own the place, I'm allowed to stay back as long as I like." Soifon spoke slowly in hopes of catching Yoruichi's attention but she doesn't respond, her wild golden eyes were fixed on the sealed doors in front of her as she hit them again, seeking solace in the pain throbbing through her knuckles, the stinging sensation giving her something solid to get a hold of from the fear that had been building in the pit of her stomach. She brought her fist back ready to hit the doors again but her movement was stopped by a firm grip on her forearm and saw that Soifon had stopped her from punching the doors.

"Let go of me." Yoruichi tried pulling her arm only to have Soifon grip's grip tighten, a firm unyielding expression fixed on the shorter woman's face.

"I can't do that." Soifon spoke quietly yet with a clear air of authority vibrating from the words.

"Let. Go." Yoruichi almost hissed back at her – Soifon kept hold of her arm, not wanting Yoruichi to damage her hand further, taking note of Yoruichi's irregular breathing. With a quick glance at the wall a few feet away from them both, Soifon quickly forced Yoruichi back against the cool wall – the movement having the desired effect in catching Yoruichi off guard and making her focus on Soifon now standing in front of her.

"Yoruichi – breathe in," Soifon paused, watching Yoruichi take a deep breath. "Now, breathe out." Soifon relaxed her grip on the taller woman as she breathed out. "Breathe in – breathe out...In and out." Soifon instructed, slowly letting go of Yoruichi as her breathing began to return to normal as Soi continued to guide her with soft spoken words.

"Are you alright?" Soifon asked once she believed Yoruichi was started to recover, gently trailing her fingers across Yoruichi's arm in a soothing manner as Yoruichi lifted her head to smile nervously back at Soifon.

"I-I think so." Yoruichi's voice was quiet, revealing how shaken she was really feeling at being confined within the small space for so long.

"I never would have pegged you as one for being claustrophobic." Soifon murmured softly, still caressing Yoruichi's arm to provide some sort of comfort, glad that she recognised the symptoms and was able to take action before Yoruichi's panic attack could grow worse.

"I'm usual alright." Yoruichi admitted after a slight pause, her voice still sounded shaken, "It's j-just...getting..." Yoruichi's voice trailed off, wondering the best way to describe it.

"Trapped?" Soifon suggested when Yoruichi didn't resume talking.

"Something like that, yeah." Yoruichi answered with a nod. Soifon smiled back her sympathetically, "So much for making this be a good second date, huh." Yoruichi mumbled with a weak smile.

"I wouldn't say that, I've had worse." Soifon reassured her with a gently smile, blushing when she noticed what she was still doing and how close she was standing next to Yoruichi and she quickly withdrew her hand from Yoruichi's arm and stepped back, averting her gaze from Yoruichi to try and hide her blush.

"You could have kept going; I wasn't going to stop you anytime soon." Yoruichi grinned at her, a clear sign to Soifon that Yoruichi was back to her usual self. Soifon rolled her eyes despite feeling pleasantly relieved at hearing the mischievous comment.

"Do you ever stop?" Soi asked, mildly curious to see how the taller woman would respond.

"Not until I get what I want." Yoruichi answered while taking a bold step towards her, easily closing the distance between them, grinning when she saw that Soifon did not step away from her this time.

"What is it that you want?" Soifon spoke, softly biting her lower lip as her senses became overwhelmed by Yoruichi standing a few inches away from her.

"A kiss." Yoruichi stated, tilting her head down to capture Soi's lips with her own. The two of them collided into one another as the floor jerked beneath them as the elevator hummed into life continuing its descent to the ground floor. The two women were both holding their heads from where they had bumped into one another.

"Finally!" Yoruichi cried out with delight at seeing the indicator slowly counting down through the remaining floors.

"That eager to get away from me now?" Soifon continued to rub her now sore head.

"What – No, I didn't mean -"

"I was teasing." Soifon stated when Yoruichi panicked at trying to quickly rectify her previous statement and smiled when she saw the relief flood across Yoruichi's face and yet again found herself floating in a sea of gold once she looked into those golden eyes. "I like you better this way." Soifon murmured softly after seeing Yoruichi's calm expression had returned and felt herself blushing at her comment, something she found herself doing a lot around the taller woman.

"You do?" Yoruichi asked, aware that it was rather a lame question but the truthful statement had caught her off guard and she admitted Soifon seemed to be good at making her stumble over what to say now and then.

"Guess this means we can rule out cave exploring for our third date." Soifon teased as she collected her briefcase on purpose to step away from the taller woman.

"Third date?" Yoruichi asked sounding hopeful even if she was slightly disappointed to not be standing so close to her anymore.

"You want that kiss after all." Soifon confirmed, flashing Yoruichi one of her rare smiles and Yoruichi gratefully returned the smile, though it turned into wicked grin when a thought popped into her head.

"You know, I think this is the first time I haven't had to spend money on a second date." Yoruichi mused to herself, "That has to be some kind of record."

"That's not true, you're paying for that." Soifon smirked, pointing at the pannel Yoruichi had torn off with the snapped wires still sticking out of it.

"You're joking." Yoruichi studied Soifon trying to see if she was joking and stared at her open mouthed as the shorter woman slowly shook her head, indicating that she wasn't and Yoruichi cursed her big mouth.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Well there it is I hope you enjoyed reading it!  
>I do prefer the first chapter compared to this one and feel like I should have left this as a one off type thing but I did like the idea of Yoruichi being claustrophobic and wanted to see how that would play out somewhat.<p>

Btw I am currently working on the next chapter for this

P.S Thank you so much for the reviews! I really wasn't expecting any so soon. :D


	3. A Little Note

Just a little note

This is just to say that to suit the nature of the story the title will be changing to 'Hunted' so don't be confused.

Basically a little announcement to say its sorta like a sequel and it continues with the set up from The Lift  
>but I found it easier to just add it onto the The Lift instead of creating a new story.<p>

Hope it continues to be enjoyable to read.


	4. Three Weeks Later

**Hunted  
>3 Weeks Later<br>**

Yoruichi had spent the first half of her day picking out her outfit for her third date with Soifon. It had been several weeks since they had been stuck in lift together and regretted the fact it had taken so long for them to finally make plans but apparently Soifon ran a busy hectic life which was all the more reason Yoruichi wanted the night to go perfectly. She had spent a large amount of time second guessing her choices, she wanted to dress up yet not over do it, wanted to show some skin but not too much to appear slutty in Soifon's eyes and she ended up throwing half her clothes around the drab room that was her bedroom and stormed off, figuring her mind would be clearer after a hot dip under the shower.

Little did she know that half way across town, Soifon was going through the exact same turmoil and was pacing back and forth through her penthouse wondering how the idea of going on an official date with Yoruichi had her worrying over her outfit, something she had sworn would never ever happen to her and had laughed at her friends when they called, seeking advice on the politics of dress wear and the rules of dating. She had been on plenty of dates before only there had never been any kind of real connecting spark between her and her past acquaintances, it was only recently that she had realised this was because she was gay and summarised if she hadn't thrown herself into her career she would have discovered this sooner only now she had risen to the top and discovered she had a lot more free time on her hands than she thought she would, too much as she found her mind wandering and noticed that her gaze lingered longer on the female employees.

She confided in one of her closer friends she worked with, Isane Kotetsu about this and realised she most likely got along better with Isane because she was openly gay and had been in relationship with her female partner, Retsu Unohana for 3 years now. Soifon was yet to meet the woman who had stolen her friend's heart but had heard a lot about her and was happy for them both. Her conversation with Insane turned out to be scarily useful, useful in that Isane was able to help her work out her own feelings about being gay and scary in that Insane had provided friendly nudges spaced out over a good few months till she finally shouted at Soifon to 'get out and about' to meet new people since Soifon had come to terms with being attracted to other women and it was thanks to Isane that Soi had finally bit the bullet and gone out on the night she met Yoruichi.

She spotted the dark goddess the second she entered the club, it was hard not to notice her beauty as she paraded around the room, splitting away from the group she arrived with and headed straight to the bar. A few people sat between her and Soifon and Soi found herself transfixed by her, unable to take her eyes off of the woman and just hoped she wouldn't be caught ogling at her. Her hair shone a deep purple that made the dark red dress she was wearing stand out more which Soifon noted with a deep blush, showed off her well endowed chest extremely well. Luckily the woman left as soon as she had her drinks arrived and if she spotted Soifon staring at her, she made no outward sign of it. Soi caught sight of her many times during that night from her seat at the bar and debating furiously over approaching the mysterious goddess or not since that was what she had come out for and Isane would no doubt chew her apart if she didn't at least try and talk to her.

This worked well in theory but putting it into action and actually striking up a conversation with the woman was a terrifying thought. Soi had never seen her before, had no clue who she was and would most likely never see again if she didn't go and talk to her but the idea of approaching her and getting shot down by her was enough to keep Soifon rooted to the bar stool. She thought about just leaving but her need to know what would happen was too strong to just let her get up and walk away. When she finally got dizzy from her mind going around in circles and most likely from the drinks she had been buying, she sent a text to Isane on what to do and was told that she is a human being just like everyone else and was told to approach her and just strike up a conversation followed with a good luck message.

_Strike up a conversation...like what...hi there, I'm gay, you? _Soi rolled her eyes at this just as she spotted the elusive woman weaving through the crowd towards the bathroom. Soifon watched her go and glanced at the time via her phone, she had been sat alone making friends with the barman for over 2 hours now and figured now was as good a chance as any and if she got rejected, she would simply call it quits for the night and go home. Soifon grabbed her glass and downed the rest of its contents and hopped off the stool now that her target had rounded the corner and dodged through the crowd after her.

She rounded the corner and quickly ducked back round, hoping she hadn't been spotted and was surprised to find her stomach tighten in protest to what she just saw and if she glanced sideways could still see. The goddess was back up against the wall with, in Soifon's mind, some ugly looking lunkhead practically drooling over her and what really drove the nail into the coffin so to speak was that the area was secluded from the pounding music enough that she could hear their conversation when all she really wanted to do was get back to the bar and get enough alcohol in her system to make her forget all about the woman.

"Knew you'd come this way eventually." The man stated smugly, Soifon scowled as he put his arms on either side of woman and she turned away from the now very intimate scene taking place.

"Didn't realise you were that smart."Soifon heard the woman respond coolly back. _Wait what...that doesn't sound right, _Soifon thought and glanced back at the two of them and forced her mind to work through the light haze the drinks had created. For an private setting between a couple, the woman actually looked very uncomfortable at having the man that close to her, if anything she looked more like she had been trapped and was pressing herself against the wall just to get more distance between herself and the leering buffoon now that Soi had taken more time to examine their body language. She suddenly felt very relieved that this slender beauty was not with the lumbering idiot.

"Don't need to know a lot to show you a good time." He pushed his luck further by actually placing both his hands on the woman's hips. Soifon's scowl deepened when she saw the woman flinch from the contact and the calm expression slipped briefly when the woman realised the dress prevented her from taking any effective action against the man's advances without it tearing and given the approaching situation, that happening would not help in the slightest. Soifon also realised this fact as well and had seen enough.

"There you are! Been looking for you everywhere, you promised me that dance remember?" Soifon stepped into the hallway, projecting her voice more than necessary to be heard but it did the job in startling the man and he quickly backed away from the woman. The taller woman looked very relieved to say the least as Soifon advanced on them both.

"M-me?" the man stuttered, looking very confused. Soifon glared at him as she stopped in front of the dark goddess.

"Back off scumbag." She spat back at him and quickly grabbed hold of the woman's hand and led her out of the corridor and back into the main section of the club.

"You're timing was perfect. There anyway I can thank you?" the tall goddess asked with a smile once they were a good safe distance away from where the man had been.

"You could always give me that dance." Soifon replied, feeling braver at having melted into that heart warming smile and crossed her fingers, hoping against hope that she wouldn't get turned down.

"For saving my night, you're definitely getting more than one." The woman replied. Soifon now had the difficult task of not jumping for joy right there and then, not only had she asked an extremely hot woman for a dance, one most certainly way out her league at that, the beautiful goddess had said yes. She did her best to contain her waves of excitement though couldn't stop the big surprised smile from spreading across her face at her luck. "We gonna go dance then?" the woman prompted and Soifon realised she had just been standing, smiling back at the goddess like an idiot without doing anything. _Come on, snap out of it. You've gone dancing before! Just grab her hand. _Soifon scolded herself and forced her body into action and she guided Yoruichi through the dancing crowd and stopped to turn around to face her goddess who had already started swaying in time with the music.

Thankful for the power of the alcohol in her system, Soifon had no problem matching pace with the woman and could only stare in amazement as the dancing goddess inched closer towards her until their bodies were barely touching and Soifon could have sworn she spotted relief cross the woman's face when Soifon didn't back away or scorn her advances. Seeing this only empowered Soifon, it showed her that the woman was nervous too and she wasted no time in closing what distance remained between them both by wrapping her arms around the woman's hips and ground against her and together they moved as one to the pulsing tempo.

Time felt like it slowed down and Soifon forgot that the two of them were standing in the middle of dancing crowd, she was only aware of the woman as she leaned in closer, brushing her face against Soi's and shivered from the pleasant feeling of her breath on the side of her neck.

"I'm Yoruichi by the way." The woman told her and Soifon's heart jumped a beat when she felt Yoruichi nip her ear playfully with her teeth before she shifted and rested her forehead against Soi's.

"S-Soifon." Soi gasped in return from the sensation and just when she realised she wanted to feel it again, Yoruichi captured Soi's lips with her own in a tender, lasting kiss with her smooth rich lips moving in a slow sensuous rhythm. Once the shock had worn off and Soifon's mind had been able to process that the hottest woman she had seen in the club was in fact kissing her, she granted Yoruichi's tongue access to her mouth and moaned into the kiss.

Yoruichi pulled back slightly, ending the gentle assault on Soi's lips and muttered something Soi wasn't able to hear over the music.

"What was that?" Soifon managed to ask, pleased she was able to conceal her disappoint at the loss of contact and she desperately wanted it back.

"Oh I-I asked if you wanted a drink." Yoruichi quickly responded and Soi could have sworn she saw the faintest trace of blush on the woman's face only Yoruichi turned to look at the bar too soon for her to be certain. Not wanting anymore drinks, Soifon stopped Yoruichi before she could move.

"I'd prefer if we could go talk somewhere with less noise." Soifon told her, gesturing around her to the dancing crowd that this wasn't the best place to try and hold a conversation.

"I know just the place." Yoruichi grinned back at her.

Soifon blushes as she recalls her next actions that night and how little she attempted conversation despite being the one to suggest it. She didn't know if it was the rush from alcohol, if it was because she finally realised what the big deal was about kissing someone or if she simply couldn't believe her luck at getting anywhere with someone as beautiful as Yoruichi but Soifon couldn't keep her hands off the woman. All through the cab ride back and at Yoruichi's place she made a point of initiating contact, brushing her leg against Yoruichi's, letting her hand linger on her arm, lips caressing skin and if anything, her actions just encouraged Yoruichi further. They became lost in the rush of feelings they gave one another and the more they gave, the more they wanted and needed it.

As amazing as that night had been, she couldn't believe it when she woke up the next day and she had squinted around the strange room, taking in the decrepit walls and tattered floor boards and groaned out in protest to her pounding skull as she tried to move but was stopped by the strangely familiar weight on top of her. She squinted down at her stomach and saw a bright purple mess of hair spread across her bare skin, followed by chocolate coloured skin equally bare of any clothing like herself. She did the only thing she could think to do at finding herself in a strange place and in the bed of someone she had only met the night before. She panicked. She lashed out at the sleeping woman, thrashing about till she successfully scrambled out from underneath Yoruichi who had now curled up in ball in protection against the onslaught.

From the stinging sensation in her knuckles Soifon knew she had struck the woman several times in her bid for escape and ignored it, choosing to search the mess of scattered clothes for her own. She paid no attention to Yoruichi's mumbled cries of pain and confusion as she started to slowly comprehend what had happened as Soifon shoved her clothes on. She just wanted to get out and away to more familiar ground, not believing she had willingly chosen to take part in any of night's activities. She just couldn't be that way, it wasn't her at all. The only other option was to actually believe that someone had made her feel that safe and secure within a few hours of meeting one another for the first time and that scared her. It was unheard of...such a thing was simply impossible! So she blamed the alcohol and she blamed Yoruichi and she ran from the room.

_What the hell I am doing! _Soifon thought and she felt that same panic grip her as she stood before her open closet, realising she had spent the day worrying over this third date and how it could possibly turn out and debating on what to wear. _This isn't me at all! I don't do this type of stuff, I don't fawn over the idea of date like some –some stupid teenage girl! _She flung the top she was currently holding on the ground and stomped out of the room, agitated at her own behaviour and a little scared that Yoruichi had been able to gain this power over her after such little time. Anyone having that kind of power over her was the reason she had ran away from home, they had wanted her to get married to some man that would bring wealth and fortune to their family so long as she played the happy housewife and dropped all her lifetime goals to stand at his side. She had worked too hard to be set on a shelf and shown off whenever deemed necessary so she had left. It wasn't easy and she had more than her fair share of bad luck in the process but she had worked hard to gain everything she had now and she did it all by herself without anyone overshadowing her every move. It's why she avoided relationships, that was free time she could be putting to better use and if she did become involved with someone, they would eventually want more of her time and waiting on them hand and foot.

She could not and would not forget the way her mother saw to her father's every need to the point that when she did try and assert her on view on things, he would not listen since she had no power and that's what they wanted for her...to be a happy, submissive, little housewife. Never! She would not let any man or woman have that power over her and Yoruichi already held too much. This had to change.

* * *

><p>For all her indecisiveness Yoruichi was able to arrive 10 minutes early at the restaurant having settled for a simple yet elegant black dress that ended just above her knees and the halter neck style left her shoulders and back exposed. For this reason she had chosen to wait inside at the restaurant's bar where it was considerably warmer than outside and it also meant she could sit down and simply bask in the atmosphere of the evening, declining the bartender's offer of drinks. It was still too soon and she didn't want to be drunk before Soifon arrived since she didn't see that going over too well.<p>

The restaurant itself had a pleasant relaxed feeling to it in that there was no official dress code set out, you could go there with a group of friends and have a good laugh or request for a secluded table for a more intimate setting. For this reason, Yoruichi didn't feel too out of place for sitting at the bar by herself since she often came here for meals with friends now and then and was more than relieved when Soifon had suggested they go there for their date, it meant they had another thing in common which was always a plus in Yoruichi's book when trying to start a new relationship.

No matter how comfortable she was at making small talk with the bar tender she couldn't ignore the creeping anxiety as the arranged meeting time came and went with no sign of Soifon anywhere, not even a text message or sign of a missed phone call she had somehow managed to overlook despite checking her phone nervously every few minutes as the time passed by.

"Sure you don't want a drink? You look a little tense." The bar tender had wandered back over to her. Yoruichi cast another glance towards the entrance but there was no sign of her anywhere and she couldn't quite picture Soifon as the type to be late, especially not 30 minutes late.

"Sure...surprise me." She added with a sigh, not too fussed over what she was given as she pulled her phone out again and sent a quick text message. She didn't have to wait long for a response which she was thankful for.

'Hell has literally ripped open. May be a while yet.' She scoffed at the dramatic choice of wording but hoped it wouldn't take too long as she tucked her phone away.

After paying for her drink, she made a more conscious effort to chat with the bar tender in hopes of deterring any stranger from approaching her while she waited, normally she would have smiled and indulged them in a conversation except tonight she really wasn't in the mood nor did she have the patience as the time slowly passed by and luckily she didn't have to deal with anyone, only one man chose to approach her and the bar tender sent him away when he saw her disinterest.

"I am so sorry I took so long." Someone panted breathlessly behind her.

Yoruichi turned towards the familiar voice and leapt off the bar stool and launched herself at the woman diving on to the woman. Extremely grateful to finally be rescued from the boredom of waiting she locked her limbs around her, trapping her in the embrace, tighter than she usual did.

"Whoa, what happened to you?"

"I got stood up." Yoruichi admitted after a moment's hesitation, still unwilling to release her friend from her grasp. She felt firm hands grab her shoulders and she reluctantly allowed herself to be pushed back slightly so her friend could look at her.

"You're joking right?" Kukaku asked disbelievingly.

Yoruichi shook her head in disagreement, indicating that she wasn't.

"Alright, let's go out and get absolutely shitfaced!" Kukaku exclaimed her one cure for any and all events.


	5. The Morning After

**Hunted  
>The Morning After<strong>

Yoruichi groaned in pain, her skull felt like someone was drilling into it and her movements slow and sluggish as she willed herself awake and quickly twisted herself back round, pressing her face into the firm cushion beneath her in an attempt to get away from the unusually bright light. She felt very stiff from feeling like she had slept in a cramped space and could feel her dress twisted around her body, no doubt from moving around in her sleep. She racked her brain for answers on where she was but found none; this was a common side effect when she spent the night out with Kukaku. After she had some time to prepare herself, she turned her head to the right and shielded her vision from the glaring light clumsily with her arm so she could take in her surroundings.

She found herself staring at the back of what appeared to be a car seat. More confused than before she propped herself up to get a better look and saw that she had indeed been looking at the back of a car seat, the bright light being the morning sun shining through the windows and that she was sprawled out across the back seat of the car and was vaguely aware of someone sitting at the wheel, apparently in the stages of waking up as well.

"Why are we in a car?" Yoruichi mumbled half heartedly as she flopped back down against the seat, still too tired to really put more conscious thought into the possible answers.

"...Hell if I know." Kukaku groggily answered back after stretching as best as possible within the confined space, "...More so when we're packed outside your flat." She added in bemused confusion.

"Did we...just not want to – to leave the car?" Yoruichi asked slowly with a yawn, completely baffled as to why they had spent the night in the car if they were parked by the flat though couldn't help but think the car was the better option out of the two. Kukaku turned to get a better look at Yoruichi on the back seat to answer her and did a double take when her eyes spotted the passenger seat beside her.

"I dunno but we have a pizza here." She informed Yoruichi, finding the whole situation quite amusing.

"What topping?"

"Meat feast" Kukaku replied after picking a bit off and tasting it.

"Ahhh, that's why we stayed in the car," Yoruichi summarised and twisted round onto her back in search of a more comfortable position to get more sleep except she sharply recoiled from Kukaku reaching round and slapping her thigh, "What was that for?" she whined and managed to dodge the second swipe from Kukaku when she tried to lie down again.

"Come on, none of that. Your flat is right there so once you're inside you can crash some more." Kukaku pulled out some dark sunglasses from one of her pockets and popped them on as she got out of the car, surprisingly graceful for having spent the night drinking.

"Urgh...hate it when you go all protective on me." Yoruichi teased without budging from the back seat, movement caused the pounding in her skull to increase and she just wanted to sleep off the hangover. She heard the sound of the car door being opened. Hands roughly grabbed both of Yoruichi's ankles and yanked her backwards out of the car door. She yelped and tried to scramble free of the grip unsuccessful as Kukaku dragged her halfway out of the car. "Alright! Alright, you win!" She shouted out in defeat in hopes of being freed before she tumbled out of the car.

"Come on shift, I got work in an hour's time and I need a change of clothes." Kukaku let go of Yoruichi though leaned in on top of her, not caring in the slightest that her chest was pressing into Yoruichi's face just so that she could grab Yoruichi's bag to rummage around in it for the keys to the flat. Yoruichi titled her head to the side so she wasn't suffocated by her friend's breasts and caught sight of a man staring through his flat window at the strange sight of them both hanging out of the car and the position they were in. She couldn't help it, even with her building hangover she flashed the man an enticing smile and winked at him as she grabbed Kukaku's butt and gave it a quick squeeze. She laughed at the man's wide eyed expression as he quickly ducked behind the curtain, no doubt embarrassed from being caught watching them and most likely in need of a cold shower too.

"Think you're confusing me for your girlfriend." Kukaku commented unfazed by Yoruichi's actions and freed herself from the tangled mess of limbs, holding the bundle of keys triumphantly and started her hunt for the right one.

"My girlfriend?" Yoruichi asked as she stood up as well and straightened out her outfit though her mind instantly switched to Soifon. She remembered that they had planned a date and how she had been stood up by Soifon but couldn't recall talking to her or anything afterwards so was confused on how that could have happened.

"I know you're a lightweight but you weren't that drunk." Kukaku sighed and postponed her key hunt to pull out her phone and began to flick through the various menus.

"It'll come back to me eventually." Yoruichi replied defensively and peered at Kukaku's phone when she offered it to Yoruichi. Displayed on the screen was a badly blurred picture of herself taken from their night out with a young woman clinging to her with a bright smile spread across her face - Yoruichi had never seen her before. Any eagerness she had felt to hear what had happened vanished when she realised this was who Kukaku was referring to and not Soifon, "Alright, who is she then?" Yoruichi sighed as she vaguely recalled Kukaku introducing her to the woman.

"Well I don't know." Kukaku replied with a shrug after giving it some thought.

"What?" Yoruichi was starting to feel more confused than she had been.

"She just happened to be in the bar last night so I got you two talking and you guys seemed to hit it off." Kukaku explained.

"You set me up with someone?" Yoruichi asked a little annoyed that Kukaku had thrown her at some stranger in the drunken state she had been in.

"Yeah well I couldn't take you whining about Sonfu not showing any longer -"

"Soifon." Yoruichi automatically corrected.

"Huh?"

"Her name is Soifon." Yoruichi explained further.

"...Anyway, I wanted to get you drunk to forget about her but all you did was go on about her more and I saw that chick eyeing you from across the room so I invited her over to help get your mind off of her."

"You shouldn't have done that." Yoruichi told Kukaku after she tried to recall more of the previous night and remembered she let this person kiss her several times.

"Relax, I kept an eye on you and besides if you hadn't sweet talked her into driving us back here, we'd have had to leave the car and pay for a taxi."

"But you had no problems with her getting a taxi home." Yoruichi pointed out as she remembered the woman waving to them both just before she climbed into the taxi.

"Don't panic, you two swapped numbers – you'll get to see her again." Kukaku teased after locking the car shut and the two set off towards the buildings where Yoruichi's flat was which involved stepping over some drunken guy who had passed out on the second floor stairs. "Gotta love the decoration." Kukaku muttered sarcastically after she successfully stepped over the vomit beside the man without getting any of it on her shoes.

"Oh yes, graffiti, rubbish, vomit...don't forget the rundown buildings and the crappy paint job." Yoruichi chimed in brightly and gestured to a broken door to one of the flats they passed by. "Seriously want out of this place." She added in a mutter as they stopped outside one of the worn down doors with the faded number '33' on it.

"That's why you should get a job." Kukaku said as she handed Yoruichi the set of keys along with her bag to let her find the right one.

"I have a job."

"I meant a real one." Kukaku explained without missing a beat.

"Hey, it is a real job." Yoruichi defended after shoving the door open with a kick after she unlocked it.

"Uh huh." Kukaku rolled her eyes but followed her inside all the same and made a bee-line towards the bedroom where she knew there would be some clothes kicking around for her to borrow. Yoruichi was stood in the centre of the room, taking in the decrepit appearance of the flat. It was barely liveable and that was thanks to all the small changes she'd managed to do after the none stop cleaning attack she had to do when she first arrived. There was one main room with a small kitchen attached and a cramped bathroom, only slightly bigger since she replaced the bath for a shower which left a moderate sized bedroom. As always, she began mentally listing everything she would change or have redone but as always ended up scraping the list along with any plans to even start fixing the place up. It would be easier to just buy a new place and that wouldn't be happening any time soon in the foreseeable future.

"You could at least put down a carpet or something." Kukaku suggested as she emerged from the bedroom, she had exchanged her short skirt for some black trousers though kept her red tank top.

"I got rid of the last one because it was disgusting. I'm not putting a new one down only to have to take it up in a month's time to get it replaced, besides the floorboards work just fine." Yoruichi countered and flopped backwards onto the sofa, another recent purchase of hers after she let Kukaku incinerate the previous one into a pile of ashes. She dropped her bag on the floor beside the sofa.

"You've been here for 4 months though." Kukaku attempted once more to get Yoruichi to see reason in at least trying to make the place feel like home instead of some forgotten prison cell.

"Point being?" Yoruichi asked simply, not bothering to budge from the sofa as Kukaku headed towards the door, she stopped to give Yoruichi a last bit of advice before leaving though.

"Fine, fine... you want out this place then make plans with your new friend or something." Yoruichi didn't indicate if she heard Kukaku or not, she was too busy staring up at the ceiling lost in thoughts Kukaku had tried to get rid of with one drink at a time. "Oy! I said call your _new_ friend; let her know you actually remember talking to her or something." Kukaku shouted in order to get her attention.

"I dunno..." Yoruichi mumbled back as she slowly rubbed her temple with one hand to try and dispel the unwanted headache and the thoughts she didn't want to focus on right now, namely Soifon and why she had ditched her without even a text and how she would react when Yoruichi told her she had kissed some other woman...this being something she would have to deal with when or even if she called Soifon again. They weren't technically dating since they had only met twice now but she still felt guilty for kissing someone else since she had wanted to try and explore things with Soifon but she had to admit, getting stood up by her had hurt. She still hadn't gotten so much as a text from Soifon, she was starting to believe that Soi had chosen not to show up on purpose and the one time Yoruichi had managed to call Soi without Kukaku to bite her head off about it had gone straight through to voice mail which could mean a great number of things...

"Yoruichi." The stern tone in Kukaku's voice made Yoruichi focus on her instinctively, it was rare when she got like this and it was normally for a good reason and Kukaku continued, "Yoruichi – don't call her again. She stood you up and you don't deserve that kind of treatment, nobody does ok."

_Dam...why do you always make valid points when they are not wanted._..Yoruichi cursed mentally as she nodded at this statement since it was true, almost certain that if someone had stood her up before she would have made them pay for it, especially if it was meant to be their first date after not seeing one another for 3 weeks, _3 weeks_..._has it really been that long?_ Part of her couldn't help but wonder if it would take another 3 weeks just to get a date set up and would Soifon have a change of heart again?

"Give what's her name a call from last night, you two seemed to find plenty to talk about when you stopped swapping saliva." Kukaku added teasingly with a smirk, Yoruichi just rolled her eyes at this.

"What's with the matchmaking role all of a sudden?" Yoruichi asked, slightly curious as to why Kukaku kept pushing her into making the phone call.

"Hey you're the one who said you wanted to find something more serious." Kukaku defended quickly and Yoruichi did remember making such a comment a while ago now about that being the case, her life was simply a mess and she wanted something more stable she could rely on to be there for her and vise versa. "I gotta get moving so I'll catch you later some time." Kukaku added and left the flat.

"You sure I can't come with?" Yoruichi called after her, a little too hopeful since it meant a means of getting out of the place she had to a call a home.

"You're not needed this time round." Kukaku waved back to her as she exited the room and closed the door behind her. Yoruichi stared at the closed door from her spot on the sofa for some time while her mind tried to work out what she should do next. _To call or not to call, _Yoruichi thought, _and who to call for that matter..._ Was it even worth calling Soifon again even after she had to basically stalk the woman just to get a conversation after the first time they met plus the amount of lectures she'd have to put up with from Kukaku once she found out but her main reason she didn't want to call was because she was worried Soifon simply had chosen to not show up and would flat out tell her no and that she had lost interest...3 weeks was a long time for two people who had just met after all.

She reached down into her bag and pulled her phone out after rummaging around for it and scrolled through the address book. The list of names were few and she knew exactly who everyone was and when she last spoke to them so was a little surprised when she spotted the name listed below Soifon's number: Sora. _The woman from last night..._Yoruichi hesitated and began flicking between the two numbers indecisively. Soifon, she knew she could have a good time with, there was a connection but it was an outright battle to get any time with her. Sora was someone she had just met so would have to work at finding that spark but from Kukaku's word and from what she could remember, she had enjoyed Sora's company and she had been kind enough to drive them back home which showed some of her personality already. Her thoughts continued in this manner a little longer as she bounced back and forth between the two numbers and half toyed with the idea of calling both of them except this was only to put off making a choice she would simply have to make later on, as would putting the phone down and dealing with it later.

"Oh for fu-" She started, frustrated by her lack of actions she jammed her thumb onto the call button a little harder than necessary and shoved the device to her ear in hopes of dispelling any waves of doubt creeping into her thoughts. _It's just a phone call, it won't do any harm! _She reassured herself as she listened to it ring.

Again.

And again.

And again it rang.

_Seriously what is the big deal with answering a phone call these days, _Yoruichi thought as it continued to ring in her ear.

"Hello?" A breathless voice asked just before Yoruichi gave up hope and ended the call.

"Hi there...erm So-" Yoruichi began but was cut off instantly by her.

"Sorry, running late for a meeting - call you afterwards ok."

"Erm sure, no probs." Yoruichi managed to get out before she heard the sound telling her that the call had been ended. _Well that wasn't too bad, _she reasoned since it wasn't what she expected to get at all but it hadn't exactly been outstanding either, _least I got an answer...kind of...Well now what to do? _She sat up and rocked dangerously on the edge of the sofa as her world began to spin and she clutched her head defensively as her headache beat harder from the sudden movement. _Ok painkillers it is._

After she managed to successfully locate and take some painkillers she then changed out of the dress and settled into her favourite hoodie and matching tracksuit bottoms and settled back onto the sofa and drifted off into sleep while she waited for the painkillers to do their job and for the promised phone call.

She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket when she started to come to from her nap, she couldn't have been asleep for long but it proved to be more than enough since she felt loads better and the painkillers were keeping the headache at bay. She pulled her phone out of the pocket and examined the screen after the buzzing stopped, she had been sent a text a message.

'Meeting is taking longer than usual.' Yoruichi grinned at reading the text message, it was huge improvement compared to the silent treatment she had gotten before. She held off texting back in case their phone wasn't switched onto silent mode, she did not need to be the reason the meeting got disrupted and most likely jinx what felt like a better start between them. Yoruichi was able to make herself a quick snack before she felt her phone buzz and start ringing simultaneously, she glanced at the caller ID briefly and smiled at seeing who it was, already liking the fact that they followed through with their word.

"Hey Sora." Yoruichi greeted brightly after she answered the call.

"Hey." Sora replied cheerfully back, no longer sounding rushed or out of breath.

"I know this is sudden and out of the blue but are you free anytime soon?" Yoruichi asked getting straight to the point since leaving the flat for the day was the whole point of calling in the first place.

"What...erm yeah there's my lunch break coming up soon. We could meet up then if you like?" Sora replied, a little surprised by the speed of the request.

"That's great! Someplace quiet would be perfect." Yoruichi added with an afterthought, not keen on having to deal with hectic busy crowds after doing so last night.

"Sure, I know a great little coffee shop." Sora chuckled, "Would you like picking up? I remember where you live."

"You'd do that?" This time Yoruichi was the surprised one at hearing the offer.

"Of course. Give me 45 minutes."

"That's great, see you soon then." Yoruichi confirmed and ended the call, feeling loads better now that she had some solid plans to get out of flat again. She hated the rooms, she hated the building and she hated the location and being stuck inside it all day wore off on her till she started feeling depressed so the less time she spent inside the dismal place, the better. _I should really just move out, _and knew that she couldn't thanks to the issue of money. _I'm gonna have to talk with Kukaku about it,_ Yoruichi summarised, making a mental note to bring it up next time she saw the woman.


	6. Banned

**Hunted  
>Banned<strong>

As much as Yoruichi really wanted to stay in her hoodie and tracksuit bottoms for the comfort factor she ditched them for a less casual look and settled on some jeans and a plain white t-shirt and when Sora arrived earlier than planned in a very smart looking work outfit she was very glad she did since she would have felt very out of place had she chosen to not change outfits.

"Nice car." Yoruichi commented, taking in the metallic blue colour as the driver seat window rolled down and the blond woman behind the wheel who she assumed to be Sora, waved over to Yoruichi who had chosen to wait outside for her arrival.

"Thanks, it's a Honda." Sora stated needlessly since Yoruichi had spotted the logo on the back of the car as she walked round. She climbed into the passenger's seat and expected a handshake or something along those lines of a formal greeting, not the hug she was swiftly pulled into by Sora or the extra peck on the cheek to go with it. "I was surprised you called actually...I erm didn't think you would really remember me." Sora added sheepishly once she released Yoruichi from the embrace and got the car moving again. Yoruichi knew she was referring to the intoxicated state she had been in.

"My friend filled in some of the blanks but it's still a little fuzzy...sorry if I did anything stupid." Yoruichi tagged the apology on quickly just in case it was needed and watched Sora for her reaction, taking the chance to examine her in more detail as well. Her hair was secured tightly in a bun which was different from last night when it had been loose and flowing past her shoulders. She was wearing a plain white dress shirt with a black blazer over the top and a simple black pencil skirt to complete the office type look. It suited her well enough but she defiantly preferred her hair being down.

"What, no, I had no problems with you last night, you were very chivalrous. In fact I'd have preferred it if you had gone a bit more wild." Sora winked back at Yoruichi playfully.

"Be careful what you wish for." Yoruichi answered, wishing she had brought some sunglasses along with her to block the sunrays out of her eyes.

"Oh but I _love_ to play with fire." Sora smirked back at her. _Cheesy comment but still entertaining_, Yoruichi thought as she grinned back at the woman, "So what do you remember from last night then?" Sora asked with an air of curiosity in her tone.

"Honestly...not much." Yoruichi admitted as she took in the street they were driving through and she recognised the area as the one Soifon's office building was located in and made herself focus back on Sora in an attempt to not think about Soifon.

"That's no big deal." Sora chuckled as she took the next left which took them further away from Soifon's building, something Yoruichi was personally glad about, "It'll be like a first meeting again only this way, we won't have to shout over the music to hear one another." For some reason hearing this made Yoruichi relax, she had been worried that Sora would be annoyed that she couldn't remember much about them meeting but her relaxed attitude about it all helped dispel this. She wouldn't have to try hide the fact that she did forgot or pretend to follow along if she brought something up from before – she could truly enjoy the time out with her.

They exchanging the usual pleasantries during the rest of the car journey though it didn't take too long till Sora parked outside a small coffee shop fitted snugly onto the corner of the street, there were a few people sat at the window seats but it looked fairly empty inside.

"It doesn't look like much, but the food is great. It's got that quaint homey charm that regulars love." Sora exclaimed as she pulled Yoruichi inside and they were immediately greeted happily by the 3 staff members on duty with hello cries directed at Sora and welcome calls to Yoruichi.

"Take it you're one of the regulars." Yoruichi observed as they headed towards the counter, Sora gave her a guilty look as an answer and proceeded to pick several things off the menu, Yoruichi took a little longer to decide on what to have then they sat at one of the open booths to wait for their meals to be ready. They took this time to get to know a little about one another more and ended up playing 20 questions and she learnt that Sora was a personal assistant to some hot shot business leader which suited her just fine since she great organisational skills but lacked the leadership skills along with the desire to take charge so the job was perfect for her. She just turned 26 a few weeks ago and had a sister who she spent every Christmas with since their parents died, her mother died due to illness while her father passed away in his sleep some time after 'almost like he couldn't stand to be apart from her' were her exact words.

"Favourite colour would have to be blue, my car gives that away and I've just realised I've been doing all the talking. Go ahead, tell me something about you." Sora leaned forward across the table, giving Yoruichi her undivided attention.

"Me? There's not much to say, I'm really not that interesting..." Yoruichi took a bite out of her sandwich she had ordered to stall for time; she really wasn't up to making conversation right now and had been content listening to Sora ramble on.

"Whenever someone says that in a movie, it turns out they have been hiding something amazing." Sora countered proudly.

"I have nothing to hide." Yoruichi chuckled.

"Then tell me what you do for a living." Sora pressed her for an answer; Yoruichi rolled her eyes but complied.

"Fine, I – I'm a model."

"Really?" Sora seemed to perk up at hearing this, "Would I have seen you in something?"

"I doubt it; I just moved back here a couple of months ago and recently got a new agent. I haven't done anything major here yet." Yoruichi explained.

"With how stunning you look I'm sure it won't be long till your picture is on the front cover of every magazine." Sora purposely brushed her leg up against Yoruichi's underneath the table as she spoke, although it caught Yoruichi off guard, she made sure not to show it.

"Thanks." She grinned back at the blond woman and made a show of leaning back against the chair to be more comfortable, it also allowed her to move her leg away from Sora's without it coming across negatively. "You ever thought about modelling? I'm sure you would be very popular with both male and female readers." Yoruichi added on playfully in order to get Sora talking again so she wouldn't have to. Her plan worked and with a few well placed compliments now and then she was able to get through the rest of meal without saying much which meant she could focus on listening to everything said in hopes of it distracting her mind from thoughts of Soifon and why she had stood Yoruichi up after she agreed to the date and why hadn't she made any attempt to contact her about it. If she wanted any answers, Yoruichi knew she was just gonna have to get in touch with Soifon again and decided to go straight to her office building after her meal with Sora and since it was still during office hours she would have to be there.

They squabbled jokingly over who would pay the bill and ended up halving it between them when it arrived and after the staff members waved goodbye to them, they left the little coffee shop and headed over to Sora's car.

"If the traffic's not bad I should still be able to drop you off home, or at least close to it." Sora commented as she glanced at her phone for the time.

"Nah it's ok. I got some things I need to do around here but thanks for the offer." Yoruichi said, glancing in the direction she had to take to get to Soifon's building and began working out the short cuts to get there.

"Erm I was wondering...did you hear back from that woman you were meant to meet up with yesterday?" Sora asked, the bright gleam in her green eyes seemed to fade slightly and Yoruichi couldn't help but wonder how long she had put off asking that question.

"I-I told you about that?" Yoruichi was startled at first though remembered Kukaku had said she mentioned it a lot.

"Yep...you went on about it quite a bit but it did allow me to play the comforting stranger roll very well...You should call her." Sora stated simply, surprising Yoruichi further, "Let me know how it goes ok. I would like to do this again some time." It was the first time Yoruichi thought the woman standing in front of her looked cute with her face titled down and how she hesitated in stating that fact.

"I will. I did enjoy this by the way." Yoruichi reassured her and smiled when the bright gleam in Sora's eyes returned and braced herself as Sora literally pounced on Yoruichi and planted a kiss on the side of her face again, her senses temporarily overpowered by the scent of coffee until Sora released her from the embrace and retreated to her car, wishing her good luck with the phone call. Yoruichi waved Sora off as she started her car and watched her drive off before she set off at a light jog. The building was roughly a 20 minute car journey from the coffee shop which meant it would take just under an hour's walk to get there, she was certain she could shave off a good 10 minutes off by cutting through some buildings so long as she was careful.

* * *

><p>As predicted and thanks to her athletic skills it took a good 40 minutes to reach the building which still managed to look as oppressive in daylight as it did at night. It was right in the centre of the city but it stood out from the rest of the skyscrapers due to a car park leading behind the building and the giant metal statue of the yin yang symbol that stood proudly in the front courtyard with the company's name 'Balance' engraved into a golden plaque just below it. She'd seen this logo around on a few other buildings now and then but they all had the logo on a signpost which made her believe this was 'home base' of the company, not that she had any clue as to what kind of business 'Balance' was but she did know they were quite popular. Yoruichi moved past the statue, taking note of the 6 cars parked in the reserved priority spaces right next to the building and wondered which one belonged to Soifon since she vaguely recalled her saying she owned the building or was at least in charge of it.<p>

Yoruichi wandered right up to the automatic doors and entered into the wide open lobby with a round receptionist desk situated right in the middle of the white tiled room. She remembered where everything was from her previous midnight visit only this time, the place was populated with people and all of them were dressed up in expensive outfits, even the people sat in the waiting area were wearing suits. She could tell a lot of eyes were on her, watching her every move though this was something she had gotten very used by now as she advanced towards the receptionist's desk.

"Hi there, could you tell me where Soifon is, thanks." Yoruichi asked the brunette behind the desk who had sat watching Yoruichi's advance in disbelief. When she had got the memo in the morning she thought it had been some kind of office prank she didn't understand but sure enough, there was the woman standing right in front of her with long purple hair leaning casually against the desk.

"N-name please." As she frantically searched through the pile of papers before her for that note to make sure she followed it correctly.

"Yoruichi." Yoruichi stated as she watched with a raised eyebrow as the woman sighed in relief after finding a yellow posted note.

"I-I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The brunette told her as she re-read the yellow note again.

"What?" Yoruichi exclaimed, a little louder than she had meant it to be and noted a security office look over at them both.

"I have strict orders to not let you into this building and I request that you do not to call Miss. Fon anymore." The brunette repeated in more detail and didn't know what to think about this situation, it was the first time something had happened like this in a long time.

"What the hell – this some kind of joke?" Yoruichi spat out at the woman. The receptionist handed Yoruichi the yellow posted note so she could read it for herself and hoped she wouldn't have to call security over to deal with the woman. Yoruichi glared down at the note, it was all there in neat handwriting.

'Do not let a woman with purple hair going by the name of Yoruichi into the building and remind her to not call Miss. Fon further.'

"I don't believe her..." Yoruichi hissed angrily under her breath as she clenched her fist around the note, crumpling it up.

"Miss I have to ask that you-" The brunette started again only Yoruichi cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going. You can relax." She spat out, throwing the security guard a death glare as she headed back towards the doors to leave, toying over the idea of making a run for the stairs to confront Soifon about this note, knowing full well she could easily get past any security guard in her way. She chose not to though and settled on pulling out her phone once she was clear of the building and practically punched the buttons to bring up Soifon's number and she called her. It went straight to voice mail which only infuriated Yoruichi further.

"If you really didn't want to see me again have the decency to just say so instead of throwing me out the dam building!" She ended the call promptly after yelling into the receiver and stomped off down the street, ignoring some of the looks from passer-bys who had witnessed her outburst.

_I just don't get it!_ Yoruichi thought as she continued to wander aimlessly through the busy crowds. It was like she was two different people. The two times she had been with Soifon in person she was certain the Chinese woman had been genuine in her advances on Yoruichi, why else would she have reacted so strongly to thinking she had been used as a one night stand and Yoruichi thought back to the time they had been stuck in the lift together.

_"I don't think I could stay mad at you for long." Soifon admitted truthfully before she could stop herself with a slight blush consuming her face yet again._

_"W-what?" Yoruichi found herself caught off guard by that revelation though quickly recovered, "I dunno, you managed quite well for a couple days."_

_"That's only because we had absolutely no contact." Soifon pointed out, "Even when you did find me I kept engaging you instead of ending the call like I should have done...It felt more like I was fighting to remain angry at you than it was to give in to my feelings."_

_"Feelings?" Yoruichi asked encouraging Soifon to keep talking._

_"This will sound crazy but when I saw you at that club I-I felt drawn to you and when I was with you it felt-it felt right..." _

Yoruichi ran her fingers through her hair out of frustration; she was certain that had been no lie which then brought up the question of why Soifon would be acting this way and the only way to find that out would be to talk to her and Soifon was making sure that was impossible. _Urgh! This makes no sense; it's like some demented power play which I really don't want to deal with anymore. I don't want to play games I want a normal relationship with someone! _She couldn't help but realise that nothing about her meetings with Soifon had been normal when compared to her first date spent with Sora, who had called her back as soon as possible, voluntarily picked her up and although she hadn't smothered her with affection, Sora had made sure to let Yoruichi know that she was interested in her with subtle hints. To top it all off, she had actually told Yoruichi to contact Soifon and find out what was going on which showed that she was understanding.

Sora was kind, understanding, affectionate and available the only thing going against her was..._she-she's not Soifon._ It was true, nothing had been normal about them meeting and it's what made Soifon stand out the most, Yoruichi had felt an instant connection to her.

She flopped down on a nearby bench and sighed out of frustration. She knew that if she continued to obsess over Soifon, she risked closing the door on what she could have with Sora and logically Sora was the better option since she had shown up to the first date, actually answered phone calls and didn't ban her from a building just to avoid seeing her again!

Strengthed by her anger and hurt feelings at the way Soifon was acting and before she could second guess herself further, Yoruichi pulled out her phone and scrolled through the list of names and pulled up Soifon's number, clicked the menu and highlight the delete option. She told herself that whatever she was feeling towards Soifon was simply a crush and could be forgotten as she deleted the number.

_It's just a crush, _Yoruichi firmly told herself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I like to try and get a chapter out per weekend and I missed last weekend and I'm busy next weekend so I managed to get 2 chapters out this weekend and hopefully I'll be able to get the next one done during the week or soemthing. Either way, I hope it continues to be a good read and thank you so much for all the reviews!

Does anyone else want to slap Soifon and tell her to stop being an idiot 'cause I do! XD


	7. The Invitation

**Hunted  
>The Invitation<strong>

Yoruichi stood leaning against Kukaku's car observing the quiet streets while she waited for her friend to come out of the building. She had thought about going inside to wait but she chose to bask in the peaceful scenery. It was one of those pleasant Sunday evenings where even the city centre was sparsely populated, mainly due to most places being shut by now and it was rare to find the normally busy area so quiet and calm. She pulled out her phone to check the time and saw that she had been waiting for quite some time now and she had to cancel her plans with Sora for the day just to make it on time, something she knew Sora was going to chew her out over later since it was technically their one month anniversary together.

Yoruichi on the other hand couldn't tell if she liked the interruption or not, it was no secret that Sora wanted to advance their physical relationship further except not feeling ready for that just yet, Yoruichi was holding off her advances to the point that Kukaku was now openly teasing her over it and calling her a prude. Not that she really minded the jokes but what was starting to concern her was how she was so jumpy around Sora when things became more intimate between them both. It was very unlike her usual self and she was having difficulty finding out why this was the case.

Just then, she spotted Kukaku exit the building lazily adjusting her jacket, a scowl formed across her brow when she spotted Yoruichi leaning against her car.

"Nice to see you too." Yoruichi commented, wondering what she had done this time to earn that look as Kukaku approached her.

"Couldn't you have worn something a little less showy?" Kukaku suggested needlessly, knowing full well by now that Yoruichi would act, do and wear whatever she wanted despite their 'advice' as the woman in question would word it.

"Fine, next time I'll wear the brown trench coat with the collar turned up, complete with shades and the hat." Yoruichi joked, knowing that Kukaku would give up this topic sooner or later so they could discuss the real reason she had wanted to meet up with her.

"You know how big a hit you are... we don't need someone recognising you." Kukaku leaned back against her car beside Yoruichi and smirked at the image of Yoruichi doing just that and how she would most likely stand out even more if she did dress that way.

"I can handle myself." Yoruichi stated seriously, Kukaku simply nodded at this. There's a moment of silence between them both; Yoruichi is gazing up at the mixture of orange and reds in the sky from the setting sun while Kukaku has her arms folded neatly across her chest, her eyes were unfocused on the ground, more preoccupied in thoughts then on the scenery.

"He wants to meet her." Kukaku informed Yoruichi, finding it easier to get straight to the point instead of dancing around the subject.

"That took a lot longer than I thought it would." Yoruichi was genuinely surprised by this.

"It wasn't easy keeping it quiet all this time so be grateful." Kukaku sighed as she recalled the amount of rules she had broken just to give Yoruichi this long.

"Awww, you went to all that trouble for little old me?" Yoruichi put on a sickeningly sweet innocent expression to go along with her statement. Kukaku shoved Yoruichi playfully away from her to knock the stupid look from her face.

"We reminded them that you're...less rebellious when you have some sense of privacy." Kukaku explained with a grin. Yoruichi broke out laughing at the choice of words used.

"Alright, I'll play nice this time. What, where and when?" Yoruichi asked once she had calmed down from her laughing spell.

"Evening meal, his place and this Friday coming at 6pm. Nice and simple, just the way you want it right?" Kukaku asked, glancing at Yoruichi to see her reaction.

"Oh please, since when is anything simple when it comes to that man, you gonna be there?"

"Ha, good point and yep, all part of the deal." Having completed her task in telling Yoruichi all of this, Kukaku pushed off from her car and unlocked it, "Now that the official stuff is out of the way, need a ride anywhere before I head home?" Kukaku climbed into the car though waited for Yoruichi's answer before she pulled the door shut.

"Wait so that was all this was, couldn't you have just told me this over the phone? You do realise how much trouble you've got me into with Sora right?" Yoruichi complained though headed round to the passenger door all the same which Kukaku unlocked for her.

"It's good to liven things up a bit now and then." Kukaku teased, sticking her tongue out at Yoruichi for added effect as they shut their doors and she started the engine. "Where am I taking you then?"

"Your place." Yoruichi stated simply and seeing Kukaku about to protest cut her off, "Don't start ok, the police have been conducting nightly raids for the past week around that area and I haven't been able to get a decent night's sleep since."

"Alright, you can stay for a few nights...I'm sure you're just saying that to get away from that place again." Kukaku muttered as an afterthought.

"You would too if you had to live there." Yoruichi countered and Kukaku knew this would be true.

"I'm sorry," Kukaku sighed truthfully, "I know you don't want to be there but I can't help you out of it either."

"...I know." Yoruichi was caught off guard by the change of mood though it was comforting to hear it said anyway and the two settled into a comfortable silence for the rest of the car ride.

* * *

><p>Nothing out of the ordinary took place at all as the days slowly passed by. Yoruichi was able to get Sora to forgive her easily enough and the prospect of officially meeting one of Yoruichi's friends on Friday seemed to come across as a sign of commitment to Sora and she gladly agreed to the evening meal. Yoruichi had believed it would have taken some coaxing to get her to go along with it but ended up wondering how Sora was so excited over the prospect, it was just a simple evening meal with two of her friends, one of which she had already met before as well that Yoruichi actually began to wonder if there was something wrong with herself not feeling more enthused about Sora meeting them.<p>

This was exactly why she was feeling nervous as she stood by the main window in the living room of his house watching the main road for signs of Sora's blue car on Friday evening at 5:53pm. Sora was coming straight from work so they had agreed to just meet up at the house. She remained by the window for some time and she continued to remain still even as she felt a presence move behind her. She could still hear Kukaku playing some game hooked up to the TV which only left one other person.

"What are you doing Kisuke?" she questioned him with a blank expression when his head popped into her field of version, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"I'm trying to see what you're so tense about." He replied fixing his eyes on the window to peer outside just as she was doing. Yoruichi moved her left arm and slammed the back of her fist straight into his nose. Kisuke recoiled from the blow, rubbing his nose in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"What was that for Yoruichi-san?" he whined, his voice was highly distorted since he was holding his nose.

"She didn't want you sneaking a glance at her boobs ya perv!" Kukaku laughed from the sofa, still frantically pressing buttons on the controller during a battle scene.

"Oh that's not fair; you know I have eyes only for you." Kisuke chimed back after he was certain it was not broken.

"You get to watch me walk away then." Kukaku replied back without missing a beat and managed to stick her tongue out at him for good measure while killing one of the bad guys in the game.

"Well you two have gotten meaner since we last together." Kisuke complained, "I would have thought being in a relationship would have softened you up some." He directed this back to Yoruichi who was still standing on edge by the window.

"You think a lot of things." Yoruichi mumbled back, not really paying much attention to either of them.

"Was she always like this before dates?" Kisuke questioned, confused by her odd behaviour, normally she was...well normal, cool, calm, overconfident, making jokes and relaxed. It was the first time she appeared stiff, rigid and tense while waiting for someone to arrive.

"Nope and you're not seeing things either. I call it Sora-itis." Kukaku answered, still glued to the game.

"You guys are going to hold off the interrogating and behave right?" Yoruichi interrupted before Kukaku could become more inventive with her jokes.

"Would you relax, we're not going to kill her." Kukaku replied, "I have met her before remember."

"And you?" Yoruichi locked her eyes with Kisuke's to try and read through his facade, knowing full well his poker face was extremely difficult to see through when he wanted it to be.

"I'm here to meet your girlfriend and make sure she's not some crazy loon you picked off the street, not to kill her." Kisuke raised his hands up in mock surrender under her intensive stare.

"She does seem to be genuinely normal." Yoruichi answered..._a little too normal. _Yoruichi froze; startled by her very own thought that appeared out of nowhere. _There's nothing wrong with that! That's what I want; _she quickly countered and tensed up, half expecting another snide little comment from the back of her mind to jump out again except she was greeted by silence.

"That's normally the case. They don't pop right out with the psycho killer routine." Kisuke told her and Yoruichi was certain she caught a knowing glint in his eyes, almost like he had heard her very thoughts just then.

"Which is why I don't understand why it took so long to do this, if you wanted to make sure I was safe shouldn't you have checked her out straight away like all the others?" Yoruichi continued to study him suspiciously, this whole evening felt off to her and she was still getting nowhere in trying to find out why.

"As Kukaku said, we wanted to allow you some extra privacy." Kisuke smiled back at her happily and she knew there was some other reason hidden deep within that warped mind of his that he would no doubt reveal when he felt the time was right as always.

"Let's not all jump up at once but your girl's here." Kukaku chimed in during the brief pause in the exchanges between Yoruichi and Kisuke. Both Kisuke and Yoruichi turned to look out the window at the same time to see Sora getting out of her blue car. She was still dressed in her work clothes though instead of a skirt, she was wearing a pair of black trousers and was busy freeing her hair from the tight bun it had been in all day as she spotted Yoruichi through the window and waved to her happily. Yoruichi smiled back then moved out of the room to go let her in though she quickly turned on Kukaku and Kisuke.

"Remember, behave. Both of you." She told them sternly once again before racing to the front door.

"And the games begin." Kisuke muttered quietly with a grin, Kukaku rolled her eyes at this and continued to play her game while they could overhear Yoruichi greeting Sora and welcoming her inside and it wasn't long till they both popped round the doorway together. Sora stood smiling brightly at them both with her arms wrapped around Yoruichi's possessively, Yoruichi stood with a crooked smile scratching her head sheepishly unsure of what to make of the death grip her left arm was currently locked into.

"Hi everyone!" Sora beamed enthusiastically, practically pulling Yoruichi further into the room along with her. Kukaku just grunted in response, she was in her gaming mode and nothing would disturb her till she completed the current level. Kisuke offered his hand to Sora for a handshake. "Oh you won't believe the day I had at work today, some client flipped out just because we wouldn't agree to the contract he wanted and actually tried attacking our boss in the meeting - and you are?" Sora paused recounting her story to officially meet Kisuke who was still standing with his hand out ready to shake hers.

"Kisuke," he answered happily and ended up letting his hand fall back to his side since Sora seemed unwilling to release her grip on Yoruichi. "Was your boss alright?" he prompted.

"Of course, our security is top rate," she boasted proudly. "He was stopped before he even got halfway across the table but god, the amount of paperwork it brought up. I had to locate all the legal files to make sure it couldn't be twisted on us and then we wanted to press charges –"

"Sora -" Yoruichi piped up, her arm was starting to go numb from the lack of blood circulation.

"It was one big mess and everything had to be done instantly, so of course everyone is running around like headless chickens with the people lower down looking to me for help while I've got the big guys harassing me to sort everything out in time and -"

"Sora I'm getting a drink, you want one?" Yoruichi jumped in, a little louder this time round to grab her attention.

"Oh I'll come with you."

"Nah its ok, water right?" Yoruichi managed to free her arm from Sora, who let go of her rather reluctantly. Yoruichi shook her arm slightly to bring back feeling in her fingertips as she walked off to the kitchen after Sora confirmed she did want water.

"That all you want...water? Wouldn't you prefer something stronger after the day you had?" The request for water had spiked Kukaku's curiosity enough to make her break out of her silent gaming mode.

"Oh I don't drink. Can't stand the stuff personally and it doesn't serve any purpose." Kukaku's eyebrow twitched at hearing Sora's opinion of one of her favourite past times. Drinking was an excellent way to wind down after a long day of working and it only got better when you had your friends around for a good laugh she thought defensively. _You know if it wasn't for that...stuff, Yoruichi wouldn't have looked twice at you. _Being true to her word though, Kukaku returned to her game without saying any of this out loud, she had promised to be good and everyone was entitled to their own opinion.

Sensing the pause in conversation, Kisuke clapped his hands together to get the ball rolling again, "Well I sh -" Before he got another syllable out, Sora cut him off.

"Oh I never got done telling you about my day, where was I...Oh now I remember, yes. Everyone was hounding me to get everything done in time. Luckily I had Nanao there for help; seriously don't know what I'd do without her to keep order sometimes -"

"Nanao?" This time Kisuke interrupted her, he was certain that name rang a bell or two.

"Yes, Nanao Ise. She's also a PA like me and together we practically run the company. I joke of course but she does answer only to the boss...well she has two in a way but that's, oh it's a long story but really she does just have one overall, there are sub headings for each department you see and -" At this point, Kukaku had gotten sick of listening to Sora ramble on and turned up the volume of her game which worked at drowning out the one sided conversation for now.

"What have I missed then?" Yoruichi announced as she strode back into the room with Sora's glass of water and her own glass of Pepsi. Kisuke spotted Yoruichi watching him carefully as she returned, as he was her, she had taken a lot of time in the kitchen preparing two simple drinks.

"Sora was just telling me about her job and the work she does there." Kisuke explained. Sora gave Yoruichi a quick chaste kiss as a thank you for fetching the drink and refrained from reclaiming Yoruichi in her possessive clutch. He believed this was mainly due to the drinks being in the way more than anything else. "By all means, please continue ladies," he added with a sly grin, referring to their kiss. "Just continue to act like I wasn't here and don't mind the camera being set up."

"That's all you're getting, I refuse to encourage your crazy fantasies." Yoruichi glared back although she refrained from hitting him despite wanting to, it was all in good fun but she didn't think Sora would get that and would most likely think she was a violent person or something. Kisuke's sly grin increased when the expected jab did not occur and seeing this only made Yoruichi feel more uneasy about the evening. She was certain he was up to something but what_...what are you thinking Kisuke? _Yoruichi fixed her eyes on the deceptively aloof man while he continued to talk with Sora, studying him carefully, she was determined to work out his scheme and beat him to the punch as the saying goes.

It didn't help the matter at all when he would glance at her every now and then and he actually stuck his tongue out for a split second at one point. He knew she was watching him and was making fun of that fact, baiting her into a confrontation and when Kisuke declared he was thirsty; Yoruichi had every intention of following him into the kitchen to question him that she visibly jumped when a set of fingers entwined themselves with her own.

"Tense tonight huh?" Sora murmured close by her ear. _How long has she been standing there? – Oh great job Yoruichi, top points for forgetting about your girlfriend_. Yoruichi could have faceplamed herself for this. "I'm sure I could help you relax back at my place later on." Sora continued softly, giving Yoruichi's hand a gentle squeeze. Yoruichi made herself smile back at her warmly in hopes of covering up any surprise she might have shown at seeing Sora that close to her. Kisuke chose this moment to reappear into the room complaining about how Yoruichi had taken the last of the Pepsi. His sudden appearance startled Yoruichi into stepping back from Sora and breaking the hold on her hand. Not that she minded the interruption, in fact she was a little relieved as it gave her more thinking time to come up with a decent excuse to delay Sora's suggestion yet again, particularly since the constant hints were starting to make it feel like she was being pressed into it. Sora looked at her questioningly; Yoruichi gave an apologetic smile after inclining her head at Kisuke, indicating towards him to which Sora nodded back at her understandingly forming the word 'oh.'

A huge explosion made everyone focus on Kukaku who swore her head off at the same time except she managed to refrain from throwing the controller half way across the room out of anger.

"Bloody tank! I just found the RPG!" she shouted at the screen as the last check point loaded, "Oh never mind, it put me right next to it." She grinned wickedly.

"I did warn you about that tank." Yoruichi rolled her eyes at this with a chuckle.

"What is _that_?" Yoruichi blinked at Sora, uncertain if she heard the distasteful tone in Sora's voice or not.

"It's a game, you want a go?" Kukaku asked, Yoruichi couldn't tell if Kukaku had heard the tone used either so she assumed she was just hearing things.

"I have better things to with my time than to play children's games." Sora stated simply. _Oh no, _a cold chill ran down Yoruichi's spine and she preyed desperately that Kukaku would not overreact since gaming was one of safest ways for her to experience her favourite hobby: blowing things up. It didn't help matters at all that Kukaku was a closeted movie/game expert in the action genre.

"What's your stance on movies?" Kukaku paused the game mid gun fight so she could face Sora. Yoruichi was unsure if she should step in or not before things got worse; it was never a good sign if Kukaku found a reason to stop during a battle, 'I hate breaking the flow' was what she always claimed.

"Oh that depends on the film itself; while most turn out to be dull there are occasional ones that surprise." Sora explained and Yoruichi recalled the few times they had gone to the cinema, it had taken a lot of convincing to get Sora to join her and even when she did agree, she seemed set on having a bad time that Yoruichi just stopped asking. _Remind me again, why are you dating her? _That evil little voice in the back of her mind piped up again. _Shut up, things are good with her; we've had some really nice times together! _She countered again only this time, the voice didn't remain quiet. _Nice? You really want to settle for its nice? _Yoruichi was frozen by her thoughts again when she realised that only one word basically summed up her entire relationship with Sora: nice. There were no fireworks, no instant connections and there were times where they didn't get along but it was still nice...and way better than nothing she concluded.

"What do you mean by that?" the shocked tone in Sora's voice greeted Yoruichi after tuning back into the conversation.

"Basically just that, I have to protect her ass night and day so I find games very relaxing, it's a break from reality." Kukaku explained defensively. Yoruichi just stared at Kukaku with her mouth hanging open, _just how much did I miss? What did you tell her!_

"Is it really that bad?" Sora turned on Yoruichi who, completely lost at the turn of events, smiled nervously back.

"Currently no, things have been quite calm I'm pleased to say." Kisuke came to her rescue, "So if you do spot anyone suspicious, do feel free to tell either one us and we'll look into it to be on the safe side."

"You really get stalkers?" Sora's bright eyes were shinning with concern, she sounded horrified.

"Oh," Yoruichi caught on. "Erm yeah, I've had a few people cause trouble in past. Actually had some guy try something about a month ago now, if it hadn't been for So-someone showing up it could have gone very wrong." It wasn't the first time Soifon had crossed her mind the past month, it happened more than she cared to admit but it unsettled her more when it happened around Sora. This was due to the thought that seemed to crop up along with it, _if it wasn't for Sora I might not have given up on Soifon so easily..._

"That must be terrible." Sora exclaimed and she practically dived on Yoruichi, wrapping her arms around her and buried her head into Yoruichi's shoulder. Yoruichi however remained stock still, her mind was going into overload and the arms that meant to be comforting were stifling her. "Are you alright?" Sora leaned back to get a better look at Yoruichi when she didn't return the hug.

"Think I'm just feeling a bit off...need some water or something." Yoruichi mumbled and set off for the kitchen, vaguely aware of Kisuke tagging along behind her.

* * *

><p>Kisuke had remained silent at first, engaging Yoruichi in light casual conversation though she soon found out what he had been thinking the entire evening when he closed the kitchen door and asked one simple question.<p>

"Yoruichi is this even worth it?"

"Of course it is." Yoruichi defended instantly

"I get the impression you're not really into her." He didn't need to list any examples on why he thought this, for a while now and especially her thoughts and behaviour from tonight defiantly made Yoruichi feel like she hadn't treated Sora as a girlfriend at all. "And on a personal note, I would prefer to not go through the hassle of all that paperwork only to find you two have ended a week later or something."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She muttered sarcastically as she leaned against the kitchen counter top in the centre of the kitchen.

"She could become a liability to you."

"That would be the case with anyone," she pointed out. "We've had some really nice times," _There's that word again; _she dipped her head forward as she frowned at her treacherous mind. "Is that such a bad thing to have?" Yoruichi asked, curious as to what he would say.

"Not at all, many people have settled for less. I'd say it depends on the person in question and if they could settle for that."

"What do you think of her?" Yoruichi looked back up at him, waiting for his answer.

"She's..." he paused: a grin crept across his lips, "...nice."

* * *

><p>They managed to get through the rest of the evening without further incidents, excluding Sora's dislike for the way a certain dish had been prepared when it came time to eat. Yoruichi wondered what had taken place between Kukaku and Sora during her time in the kitchen since Kukaku had adopted to follow the 'If you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all' plan and kept sending death glares at both Kisuke and Yoruichi for banning alcohol for the night since they didn't want Sora feeling left out. Kisuke continued as before and encouraged Sora to keep talking which he soon found out took no effort at all since she seemed to have an opinion on practically everything and the rare occasions she didn't, she would simply talk about someone who did. This left Yoruichi doing her best to pay extra attention to Sora in an attempt to make up for basically ignoring her earlier even if she did feel torn over her feelings for Sora and as the night approached, Sora reminded Yoruichi of her suggestion to spend the night at hers, which Yoruichi kindly turned down by saying that she still felt weird and was gonna stay at Kisuke's for the night since she wanted to get plenty of rest.<p>

"That's fine." Sora smiled, "I'll call you sometime tomorrow yeah?"

"Sure, I'll charge my phone so it's ready." Yoruichi waved goodbye to Sora as she headed down the pathway.

"Oh wait! I nearly forgot – you know that party I mentioned a bit ago?" Sora called back to her.

"Yeah." Yoruichi nodded, "It's coming up soon right?"

"Yep, just wanted to check you were still free to be my date for the night." Sora had reached her car and was now waiting for the confirmation before she got in to leave. Yoruichi hesitated, _I already said yes so no point backing out of it now...plus she'd want to know why and I'm just too tired to think of a good enough reason right now anyway. _Not content to stay quiet any longer that evil little voice resurfaced_, _having doubts about your girlfriend again? __Not in the mood to argue with herself any more, she chose to ignore it this time round.

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten." She confirmed and watched the smile brighten on Sora's face and she blew Yoruichi a kiss before she vanished inside her car to go back home. Yoruichi pretended to catch it and went back inside and found Kukaku opening a beer bottle in kitchen looking very irritated.

"I think that was quite ni – Good, it was good." Yoruichi corrected herself, determined to not use _that_ word again.

"Depends on what you class as good." Kukaku grunted, "Does she ever shut up?"

"Ha, yeah, she does like to talk which suits me just fine since I like to listen."

"Yoruichi even I like to listen when the conversation actually has a point but all she does is waffle on about nothing."

"There's nothing wrong with that, it's called chit chat." Yoruichi explained, feeling more like she defending Sora now.

"It's called bull shit with a capital BS." Yoruichi frowned at Kukaku's use of language.

"As I recall, you're the one who told me to call Sora and you found her in the first place." Yoruichi pointed out.

"Clearly I had to be drunk to do that." Kukaku stated resentfully

"You saying I should dump her now?" Yoruichi rubbed her temples, it had been a long night and she didn't have the energy needed to work out what had caused this rift between Kukaku and Sora right now.

"No, not at all, she's a keeper Yoruichi, really...just keep her someplace else." Despite being serious Kukaku chuckled at her own comment.

"This is because we didn't let you drink, right?" Yoruichi rolled her eyes at her friend's behaviour though was glad the tone of the conversation had lightened up.

"...Partly..." Kukaku played along, taking a swig from the bottle with a small grin.

"Alright K...I'm – I'm just gonna turn in for the night." Yoruichi decided to call an end to the conversation before it got serious again; she could approach the subject later when they both had more energy and could think more clearly. Kukaku nodded goodnight to Yoruichi as she left the kitchen and headed for the guest room ready to just collapse into sleep after what had been a surprisingly exhausting evening meal.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry I missed last week's update but like I said, I was extremely busy plus I had some problems trying to work out Sora's character for a while too.  
>If you do have any suggestions or tips on how I can improve my writing, do feel free to let me know. I'd like to get better at this :D<br>And finally, I hope you enjoyed this update :D  
>P.S In case anyone was curious, Kukaku is playing Uncharted 2 (Huge Uncharted fan since game 1 and got my copy of number 3 pre-ordered!)<p> 


	8. Mistake?

**Hunted  
>Mistake?<strong>

**Saturday Morning**

Yoruichi poked her head out from under the covers, her skull pounding in the familiar way it always did after she had one too many drinks. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sensing the presence of someone else beside her, she turned her head to the side to confirm what she already knew. Regret built in the pit of her stomach when she spotted Sora, already wide awake with a hot steaming mug in one hand and a folded newspaper in the other. Her movement must have caught said person's attention as her bright green eyes focused on Yoruichi.

"Morning sleepyhead." Sora greeted her with a warm smile.

Yoruichi groaned and pulled the covers back over her head, unwilling to deal with any of this.

**The Previous Night**

"Stop fidgeting," Yoruichi chuckled as she stopped Sora from readjusting her outfit yet again. "You look fine." She reassured her.

"Fine? I was going for stunning." Sora pouted, Yoruichi smirked and planted a chaste kiss on Sora's cheek.

"That too, come on." Yoruichi gentle squeezed her girlfriend's hand as they entered the building together. They were greeted by a friendly looking woman, dressed in a formal outfit who they assumed worked at the building. Sora handed over their invitations, which the woman swapped for a decorative pamphlet; Sora tucked this away into her purse so they could look at it later, the woman then proceeded to direct them over to the lifts with instructions to head straight on up to 'The Balcony.'

"Ooo! Sound's fancy." Yoruichi commented once they were ushered into the available lift, taking note that the button Sora pressed was in fact labelled as 'The Balcony.'

"I hope it's going to be ok. I really don't know what to expect, I've never been to one of these things before." Sora admitted, adjusting her dress once more. Yoruichi couldn't help but snigger at her behaviour.

It was the night of the party Sora had told her about a few weeks ago now, it was to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary, which was being held at one of the very notable hotels within the city that had its own gym, spa, swimming pool, restaurants, and even rented out rooms for all kinds of events and Sora had spent ages picking out outfits, swapping them around then picking something completely different for a good few hours before Yoruichi finally convinced her to go with the silver satin gown, mainly because she liked the design of the red dragon embroidered into the left side. Yoruichi had settled on her favourite red dress, it held an elegant charm to suit all occasions.

Yoruichi glanced at Sora, pleased to know she was happy to see her again and silently congratulated herself for sticking to the plan she had formed after Sora had met her friends. Kisuke's thoughts on the matter had caused her to worry about her relationship with Sora that she re-evaluated all of their time together and had come up with a theory as to why she wasn't really connecting with her. They had been spending too much time together. This _should_ have been a good thing but Yoruichi had been using Sora as a means to get over Soifon, along as a reason to escape the confines of her dismal home and blamed herself for not seeing it as the 'dates' they were meant to be. To counter this, she purposely put some distance between herself and Sora by not calling her constantly just because she was bored and needed a distraction or wanted to get out of the flat just because Kukaku was stuck in the office and unable to do anything with her. Yoruichi had spent the last two weeks lying to Sora about being busy with some photo shoots to avoid seeing her, they still called one another often enough but Yoruichi was relaying on the well known saying, 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' to work in her favour. Given that she felt genuinely happy to see Sora again when she picked her up earlier that day, she assumed it was working.

There was the tell tale ding as the lift had reached their destination and the doors opened to reveal a vast open room, decorated in the classic venue style, a double set of glass doors lead out to what Yoruichi assumed would be the balcony, though they were currently shut. There were enough tables to seat at least a hundred people. Each one had a white cloth draped across it, and upon closer inspection they were made out of silk with a centre piece consisting of deep red roses. There was a bar placed in the right hand side corner and there was a raised up platform with a podium placed directly in the centre, Yoruichi guessed that a band could have set up there if it was a different occasion, as it was a gentle piano piece was playing through the surround system which helped set a pleasant ambience. The sheer amount of attention to each little detail within the room itself was more than enough to leave Yoruichi feeling impressed at the amount of work that must have taken.

By the amount of people within the room, they knew they had arrived in good time; some people were already seated while others were wandering around, introducing themselves and talking to one another, all dressed in evening gowns or suits. Sora and Yoruichi were greeted by a man wearing a more traditional waiter's outfit once they stepped out of the lift.

"Name?" he asked, a clip board held in his hands.

"Sora...Sora Yosano." Sora replied which was greeted by silence as he scanned what must have been a list attached to his clip board.

"Ah yes...table 33," he pointed to a table at the side of the room. "Enjoy your evening ladies." He bowed his head to them as they set off for the table they had been directed too; no one else was currently sat at the table although there was a purse placed on one of the chairs. Not wanting to be sat at the table by themselves, they reserved their seats by placing their own bags on their chairs, Yoruichi mentally prepared herself for a lot of socialisation tonight, she defiantly got the sense this was more of a networking event instead of an actual party. Sora pointed to a group of people standing on the other side of the room, saying she thought she spotted some of her friends over there as she lead Yoruichi towards them.

"Sora!" a woman broke apart from the group and pounced on Sora, pulling her in for a hug. "It's like we haven't seen each other in ages!" the woman laughed, Yoruichi gathered this was some kind of joke since Sora laughed as well. "And you, you must be Yoruichi correct?" the bubbly woman proceeded to then pounce on Yoruichi, embracing her in a tight hug as well. She was just smaller than herself, her hair colour was a darker shade of blond when compared to Sora's and was a wearing a long turquoise dress that flowed around her body, not limiting her movements in the slightest.

"If not, you get to say you hugged a random stranger." Yoruichi commented as the woman released her from the hug.

"Well maybe if I hug enough people here, this place might liven up a bit." The woman grinned back.

"Oh yes, you'd be the star of the show for pulling that stunt on Shawn." Sora interjected.

"Trust me; I am not stupid enough to hug Shawn." The woman snorted with laughter

"Shawn?" Yoruichi quirked an eyebrow, curious as to what this person had done to receive such a reaction.

"Oh it's a code name for our boss." Sora explained

"Yeah, she's a hard ass – safer to speak in code just in case." The woman added and continued to talk only Yoruichi was no longer paying any attention; she was tuned on a different conversation taking place a few feet away from them. She had overheard something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was certain she had just heard someone say 'Balance Industries.'

"...will have another 40 years of good fortune." The male voice finished speaking.

"I'm sure it will." Another male voice declared happily.

_Dam it, don't stop talking now, say more!_ Yoruichi almost growled out of frustration when she heard the two men start talking about something else. Her mind was working a mile a second over what she supposedly just overheard. _That's if I even heard correctly, it had been a passing comment, plus why would they even be talking about Balance, this is for..._Yoruichi realised she didn't actually know what company Sora worked for, for all the times she had listened to Sora go on about her work she could not recall her ever mentioned the name at all. _If only we still had the invitations, I could have checked – the pamphlet! _

"I swear it looked like she was going to explode." Sora laughed as did her friend, Yoruichi just smiled brightly to play along with whatever joke had been said this time round.

"Quick question, do you have that pamphlet handy?" Yoruichi asked the woman before they could start talking again, hoping that she did otherwise she would have to go all the way back to their table to recover the one from Sora's bag.

"Sorry, I threw it out as soon as it was given to me." The friend replied. _Darn it! _Yoruichi cursed mentally, _I have to go all the way back to the table now. _She was too worked up in needing to know if what she had heard was correct to stop and consider why it was so urgent to have it confirmed or why her heart was racing faster over the possible chance of seeing _her_ again than it ever did when she thought of Sora.

"Here, take this one. I have no need for it." A passerby offered their pamphlet as they overheard the request.

"Really, thank you s-so much..." Yoruichi trailed off when she saw exactly who it was offering her the pamphlet as she turned to take it from them.

A faded spark fluttered into life in the pit of her stomach, her heart skipped a beat as soft shivers rippled through her body as her fingertips brushed against her smooth skin for the first time in what felt like years.

_Oh god_..._It's not just a crush, _Yoruichi realised as her golden eyes met shimmering silver ones.

* * *

><p>"S-Soifon!" Sora's declaration broke the spell holding Yoruichi and Soifon's gaze and Soifon immediately let go of the pamphlet, a stern, unyielding expression settled in her eyes when her hand was no longer in contact with Yoruichi's.<p>

"Yosano." Soifon nodded curtly to Sora, her steel grey eyes remained fixed on Yoruichi, who could only stare back at her. She was at a complete loss on how to actually handle the situation; she had so many questions she wanted to ask but to do so in front of Sora would only cause more.

"Have you two met before?" Sora asked from beside Yoruichi, finding it difficult not to notice the intensive staring competition going on between the two women.

"We've had...dealings in the past." Soifon took a moment to choose her wording carefully, her eyes still focused on Yoruichi, questioning her, seeking an answer as to how she was standing right in front of her.

_Dealings...You call standing me up 'dealings?' And what do you mean past? It was last month, not 100 years ago!_ Yoruichi glared back at her defiantly. Y_ou threw me out of a dam building you bitch! _On a sudden impulse to get back at Soifon in any way possible, Yoruichi pulled Sora closer into her body, wrapping her arm possessively around her lower back so that her hand rested on Sora's hip bone, and was pleased to see shock resonate deep within Soifon's eyes before she hardened her gaze once more.

"I didn't realise you knew my _girlfriend." _Yoruichi made sure to stress the last word for extra measure.

"Yosano has always been a dedicated worker." Soifon stated quietly, her eyes taking in the sight of them both as they stood joined at the hip almost.

"Coming from you that means more than you could ever know." Sora bowed her head to Soifon out of respect, grateful for the compliment.

"Oh?" Yoruichi was intrigued by the tone of reverence in Sora's voice.

"Of course, Soifon was the one who practically saved the company single handed when the board of directors had given up and were about to sell it off." Sora boasted proudly on Soifon's behalf, Soifon however, still held her impassive steel gaze.

"It's nice to know you can follow _some_ things through then." Yoruichi quipped back to Soifon, giving Sora's hip a very noticeable squeeze. Caught off guard by this, Sora gasped which only served to bring more attention to Yoruichi's actions, who again, felt some satisfaction at seeing Soifon look away from them both.

"Yoruichi, behave." Sora muttered back, though clearly didn't mind the attention at all.

"What, I haven't seen you for a while, I've missed you." Yoruichi pulled Sora closer to her body and kissed her directly on the lips.

"It's quite alright, do excuse me." Soifon nodded goodbye to them both before moving away to mingle with another gathering of people grouped together. Yoruichi watched Soifon go, already planning out how their next little chat would go.

"Swear she doesn't know what a smile is." Yoruichi heard Sora mumble under her breath and managed to stop herself from saying Soi's smiles had a graceful charm to them. However, it didn't stop her remembering each and every one she had witnessed during her time with Soifon, and Yoruichi smiled to herself as she recalled the very rare chuckle that would accompany these smiles if the Chinese woman found something especially funny. Yoruichi gave herself a quick mental shake to get rid of such thoughts, realising that if she continued to allow such thoughts; she wouldn't be able to follow through with her plans. She really hadn't thought things would take this turn, but hearing Soifon dismiss what they had by classing it as 'the past' when combined with how she had been treated by the short woman was more than enough to make Yoruichi seek revenge._ After all, nobody stands up Yoruichi Shihoin and gets away with it, _she concluded.

"Did you hear me? I said do you want to meet the rest of my friends?" Sora prodded Yoruichi in her side to get her attention.

"Hmm? Oh yeah sure, sounds like fun." Yoruichi replied after tearing her eyes away from Soifon as Sora started to introduce her to somebody.

* * *

><p>Soifon focused solely on the steady rhythm she had created in her mind and matching her breathing to it, she flexed her hand tentatively to find it was still shaking, she shook her hand in hopes of dispelling the strange tingling sensation dancing across her skin from where their hands touched. <em>How?<em> _How is this possible?_ She couldn't make heads or tails of it all, barely one minute standing back in front of her and she had been bombarded by the emotions she had failed to squash out of existence, being so close to Yoruichi again that her senses were overloaded by her very presence, it was all she could do to keep breathing as she was left, immobilised by a single touch.

Soifon subconsciously traced the spot where Yoruichi's hand had touched her own, scolding herself for being so weak all this time, she had done everything in her power to keep thoughts of the dark skinned goddess out of her thoughts but Yoruichi remained just that, a beautiful goddess that haunted her constantly, and just when Soifon thought she'd finally overcome them, her dreams provided restless nights in which she relived that one night they spent together. This did nothing but infuriate her the very next day, there was nothing she hadn't been able to overcome yet her thoughts were hounded by the purple haired woman and the more she fought against them ,the stronger they became.

She glanced back and sure enough, Yoruichi was still standing where she had been, deep in conversation with someone else though her arm was still wrapped around Sora. Again, Soifon turned away from the scene, her stomach still churning from having to stand and take in the sight of Yoruichi being all over that woman. It was obvious Yoruichi had purposely done it to try and upset her and Soifon did her best to not show any signs that it had worked but when Yoruichi leaned in and kissed Sora, she wanted two things more than she ever did before that she had to look away to try and prevent the first one from taking place. That being, to push Sora away from Yoruichi and fire her on the spot to then watch security drag her out of the very room. The other, was to have Yoruichi kissing her instead so she could feel her soft lips crushing against hers again, claiming her mouth like before, to be swept away in Yoruichi's embrace that she forgot about everything but the feel of their bodies pressed against one another and nothing else.

_No! I'm stronger than this; her being here is no excuse to relent. _Soifon scolded herself for letting her emotions carry her away and to counter them, she brought up memories of her mother, how weak she had become and how badly she had been hurt, all the name of love. _This is nothing; I won't let her effect m like this. _Soifon rationalised that her feelings for Yoruichi were only as strong as they were because she was the first person she had ever been with._ I can get through this, it's just one night and I don't even need to speak to her further, I can just avoid her._

In theory her plan was foolproof, it was a large gathering of people, each and every one of them seeking an audience with her and her alone, to congratulate her on all she had been able to achieve that Soifon really did think she could stay hidden from the purple haired beauty all night long. What she didn't count on was that Yoruichi had made a plan of her own to stay in plain sight of Soifon, no matter how many people she weaved through, Soifon would catch sight of Yoruichi with Sora ever by her side. It was during these time that, whether by coincidence or done purposely, the two become extra friendly towards one another in their displays of affection that Soifon would have to politely excuse herself from the current group she had been chatting with just to escape the sight of the happy couple. This merely set the game off again because when Soifon felt like she had gotten some control over the impulse to throw them out the building, she would spot them both out of the corner of her eye, her blood turned cold and it felt like someone was cutting off her air supply as the two shared a passionate kiss. Unable to take it any longer, Soifon excused herself once again, except this time, she retreated to the toilets.

Soifon splashed the cool water on her face then shook her hands dry after turning the tap off. _This is a nightmare! _She thought desperately as she studied her reflection carefully and was pleased to see her mask had not fallen, she still projected a stern, powerful image despite the inner turmoil raging deep within. She had never lost control like this, not for what felt like a lifetime ago now except it's exactly how Yoruichi was making her feel right now, completely out of control and that scared her. _How is she doing this to me! _She gripped the sink bowl tightly to prevent her hands from shaking as she pictured Yoruichi running her hands across Sora's body, the image made her stomach feel like it was being slowly ripped apart, making the pain she had done her best to ignore, grow stronger with each passing second.

Soifon forced herself to calm down by taking long deep breathes, _I did it for a reason, _she repeated to herself over and over again, almost turning it into a mantra as she recalled the last words she had heard from her mother.

Satisfied to see her hands no longer shaking and that her breathing had returned to normal, Soifon stood upright; her breath caught in her throat as golden eyes pieced her own via the reflection in the mirror Soifon was facing, she cursed mentally for not paying more attention to her surroundings as she watched Yoruichi move closer to her, hiding a shiver at seeing the power hidden behind those eyes. Soifon locked her body in place to suppress any visible reactions from taking place once Yoruichi stopped directly behind her, she could feel Yoruichi's sinfully soft chest press lightly into her back as Yoruichi leaned into her. All Soifon could do was blink as she watched Yoruichi pause for a moment, almost positive the Goddess had stopped to breathe in her scent before she continued the movement, lowering her head closer to Soifon till her lips were level with Soi's ear.

"Do you want me?" Soi gasped as soon as she heard those words whispered to her in such a tantalisingly, tempting, manner that she bit her bottom lip to stop herself from speech, not trusting any recognisable sounds to be made since she needed to focus all her energy into not throwing herself on the seductive woman that very instant. Soi then watched a grin form across those delicious lips, no doubt Yoruichi could tell from Soi's reaction what her answer was even if she hadn't said a word. She felt Yoruichi's hot breath melt into her skin and send shivers right through her body, down to her very toes.

"Too bad." With that, Yoruichi turned on her heel and left Soifon gripping onto the sink for support; it felt like her legs would give out any second from the need Yoruichi had planted deep within her very core. Soi was having a hard time believing all the reasons she had created to stay away from Yoruichi with that need burning through her body, without those reasons to hide behind, Soifon realised that it came down to one simple fact, that she had never been close to anyone and was scared to do so, afraid of the pain that she knew it brought along. Her fear had been too much to face so she had ran from it, and because of that choice, she now had to put up with the greater pain of seeing Yoruichi with someone else.

Soi was distracted by the sensation of something wet splashing onto the back of her hand.

_A tear? _

She raised her head to look at her reflection and to her surprise, saw that she was silently crying. _I haven't cried since..._Soifon wiped away the freshly formed tears as she recalled her mother's hand performing the same action while she spoke softly to her, 'You're stronger than me Soifon.'

Hearing her mother's voice again was like someone flicking a switch on inside Soifon's head. She was strong and she was not going to hide in the bathroom, she was going to walk out with her head held high and not give Yoruichi the satisfaction of seeing her in such a state. _All I have to do is focus on one step at a time, just get through this night and I can worry about tomorrow when it comes._

As Soifon rejoined the party, someone had just finished announcing that the meal would be served shortly and she gratefully took her seat, pleased to note her table was far away from where she could see Yoruichi heading to with Sora. Her mood improved greatly as she spotted Nanao Ise heading towards her table.

"Please tell me you are sat here and are not just passing by." She commented as Nanao approached her.

"Yes, I made sure of it per your request." Nanao answered as she settled into the empty seat beside Soifon.

"Great, maybe you can provide a source of sanity." Soifon dropped her tone when she recognised members of the board occupying more of the empty seats.

"I wouldn't count on that since-"

"Nanao-chan!" a voice called out in a sing song type manner and Soifon spotted Kyoraku swaying towards the table, waving at them both without spilling a drop of is drink. His shirt already half un-tucked from his trousers with the top buttons undone so he no longer felt choked by the collar.

"Since Shunsui has been drinking." Nanao responded quietly.

"Then he can provide the entertainment." Soifon smirked back and nodded to Shunsui Kyoraku as he flopped into the chair beside Nanao, who quickly slapped away his hand after he tried to snake it across her shoulders.

"You're too mean Nanao-chan." Shunsui whined back at her though didn't make a second attempt at contact with her.

"That is not your normal reaction to his drinking." Nanao continued her conversation with Soifon like nothing had happened.

"I haven't exactly had a normal evening." Soifon told her, keeping her tone down so as the others seated at their table wouldn't overheard them.

"Ahhh Yoruichi-san can have that effect." Shunsui commented knowingly to himself.

"You know her?" Soifon blurted out incredulously.

"We used to hang around back in the day." Shunsui's eyes glazed over with memories, "We certainly got into a lot of trouble back then." He chuckled to himself.

"That's an understatement if ever there was one." Nanao muttered as she took a sip from her drink.

"What can you tell me about her?" Soifon asked, glancing between the two for answers.

"She's laid-back, impulsive, eccentric, playful, a flirt..." Nanao paused for a breath and Soifon was wondering how long this list was going to be. "Intelligent, witty, calm, mature, responsible, noble and very, _very_ loyal to those lucky enough to be classed as friends." Nanao concluded, adjusting her glasses to hide a knowing look between herself and Shunsui.

"That's quite a list." Soifon mumbled as she looked across the room to where Yoruichi was sat next to Sora, and as if Yoruichi knew someone was staring at her, turned round and their eyes met for the briefest of moments before Soifon turned away, a slight tinge colouring her cheeks at having been caught staring at her.

"Yeah, she is something special alright." Shunsui added and took a sip from his glass after leaning back in his chair.

"Oh?" Soifon looked at him, she was sure he was implying something.

"I think anyone would have been lucky to have her." He explained simply.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She was certain he meant something by that comment, her mind trying to work out if he knew about her interest towards women, she had only told one person, that being Isane and well, Yoruichi by a technicality. _He did say they knew one another, maybe she said something to him. _Soifon studied Shunsui's appearance carefully to try and see if he was hiding anything beneath his laid-back attitude, she was also starting to wonder on a side note, just how many other of her employees Yoruichi knew.

"Nothing, nothing...it was just a statement of sorts." Shunsui smiled disarmingly back at her, leaving Soifon to wonder if she was being paranoid and imagining the double meaning of if he really was referring to her.

Soifon was unable to continue her conversation with Shunsui and Nanao as the rest of their table guests got impatient at being ignored and she had to indulge them in a debate on company politics throughout the meal, except she did excuse herself once they tried to talk about the possible directions for the company to advance in.

"Gentlemen please; tonight's a night of celebration. We can discuss the finer points of work during office hours." She told them as she stood up to leave in order to get a break from the current conversation, there was a limit on how much she could listen to the board of directors talk about the finer points of cutting office costs.

"Of course, to the company!" Shunsui chimed in, raising his glass merrily, to which the rest of the table followed suit, calling out 'To the company!' This set off a Mexican wave till the entire room shared in the impromptu toast. After which, Soifon continued her duty of seeking out the more important people on the guest list to perform the required socialising and make sure they didn't feel left out of the loop. It was made easier since most of them were seeking her out as well to swap their latest life antics with her, something about that fact made her suddenly thankful for her glass of wine.

"Sorry to bother you with this right now," Soifon heard from behind her as someone tapped her shoulder, she turned to see Sora looking back at her apologetically, Yoruichi stood ever by her side. "I just remembered that you never gave the official send off for that lawsuit and if we want to beat them to the punch, I kinda need to know as soon as possible."

"Of course, I trust you to take care of that for me." Soifon forced herself to smile back at her.

"Oh don't worry, she will." Yoruichi said as she pulled Sora closer to her body. Soifon smiled back at her, doing her best to relax her hands, she was certain her knuckles would be turning white from clenching her fists so much. Not wanting to give Yoruichi further chances to slip in any more double edged sayings she turned and left. Or tried to, for just when she started to walk away, her path was blocked by one of the board members, Marenoshin Omaeda, wearing his usual amount of gold jewellery to show off his wealth. On a usual day, talking to this man was tiresome and difficult enough in itself without Yoruichi making goo-goo eyes at Sora.

From the corner of her eye she catches Sora reach round behind Yoruichi and from Yoruichi's wide eyed expression which promptly changed into sly/flirtatious wink back at Sora, she had grabbed Yoruichi from behind and squeezed. Not really sure why but seeing Sora initiate something instead of it being Yoruichi was making it very impossible to keep her stoic expression in place as emotions raged on inside of her, threatening to overflow at any second at seeing Sora with Yoruichi.

She heard the sound of glass shatter close by. Sora let out a girlish squeak and retreated away from Soifon, who noted that a few heads had turned in their direction, curious as to what had happened herself, and why it felt like her right hand was wet and stinging at the same time. She glanced down at her hand as Marenoshin and Yoruichi asked if she was alright.

Her hand had been pieced and cut by shards of glass and blood was starting to ooze out of the wounds. Soi's jealously that had been building all night had been released in the form of her gripping her wine glass so hard that it shattered, the glass cutting her skin easily and her close proximity to Sora meant its contents had sprayed half way down her dress, said woman was currently in the process of trying to pat herself dry as the stain seeped further through the material.

"It's fine." Soifon quickly reassured the few people close by who had gathered to observe the event and she ignored the growing pain in her hand while Sora was making a fuss over her ruined outfit. It didn't look like Yoruichi was paying her girlfriend any attention since her concern filled eyes were focused solely on Soifon.

"You should get that looked at." Yoruichi told her, Soifon noticed that Yoruichi had stopped herself from advancing towards her after casting a quick look at Sora that most people would have missed.

"It's fine, there is a first aid kit by the balcony – I shall use that." She really wanted to get away from the area and gathering crowd as fast as possible before she did something else she would end up regretting so she moved away and made straight for the first aid kit while attendants flooded the scene to clean up the broken glass.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi stood leaning in the doorway that separated the balcony from the inside of the crowded room watching Soifon curse under her breath as she struggled to wrap the bandage around her hand. She had taken the first aid kit outside with her and now stood by the wall looking out across the city landscape, with her back facing the doorway, Yoruichi assumed that she was unaware of her presence. She had wanted to get back at Soifon yes, but after seeing her get hurt, she had needed to check up on Soi since she refused anyone's help. The fact that her own plan had back fired on her too only added to mixture of confused feelings she was trying to work through. She had tried her best to get Soifon jealous but all her interactions with Sora that night just made her realise she wasn't attracted to her. Her heart raced faster at the sight of Soifon more than it ever did when she was kissing Sora.<p>

"Would you like some help?" Yoruichi tried asking, it was the only way she could think of starting a possible conversation between them both.

"I'm perfectly capable by myself." Soifon retaliated without turning to look at her. Yoruichi rolled her eyes at hearing this,_ you stubborn thing you._ It was clear Soi was having difficulty trying to use her left hand to apply the bandage since she was naturally right handed. Yoruichi heard Soi mutter another curse and decided asking again would get her nowhere, so she approached the shorter woman anyway.

"Here, let me." Yoruichi takes Soi's injured hand in her own and gently begins to wrap the bandage more effectively. "You know, having someone around isn't a bad thing." Soifon just looked away from Yoruichi at hearing her say that. Yoruichi didn't say anything else after that and focused instead, on securing the bandage properly so that it wouldn't fall loose.

"Where is she?" Soifon asked after awhile, Yoruichi assumed a scowl was fixed firmly across her face even though Soi was still looking away from her.

"She went to change her outfit, she lives close by." Yoruichi told her after a slight pause.

"Shouldn't you have gone with her?"

"I-I wanted to check you were ok." Yoruichi admitted more to herself as well since Sora had badgered her to go home with her. Soifon looked back at Yoruichi after hearing that and saw Yoruichi was still holding her injured hand in her own even though she had finished applying the bandage, her thumb moving gently across her knuckles in a soothing manner.

"Soi..." Yoruichi murmured softly, she had meant to say sorry to her, she was certain Soifon breaking the glass was caused by her behaviour but as she inched closer to Soifon, Yoruichi became acutely aware of butterflies taking off in her stomach and words failed her as her eyes landed on Soi's parted lips and memories of their last kiss flooded her mind. The urge to have those lips pressed against her own again was overwhelming that their faces were inches apart, she wanted to see that same need resonating deep within Soifon as well. Her golden eyes gazed deeply into Soi's own and saw her hesitation and the panic in her eyes at Yoruichi being that close to her again. Yoruichi sighed inwardly and pulled back, as much as she wanted to kiss her again, she didn't want to steal it; she wanted Soifon to want it as well.

"Sorry..." Yoruichi muttered quietly now that she was certain Soifon really didn't want to be with her. Soifon grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pulled her back into the kiss, her lips clamping down on Yoruichi's possessively. Yoruichi felt Soifon's tongue along her lips begging for entry and she complied, moaning into the kiss as Soi's tongue stroked and caressed her own. It felt like she was going to melt away into that very kiss any second. Just when she was starting to think they could stay that way forever, she felt Soifon pull away from her, effectively ending their kiss.

"Wow..." Yoruichi breathed breathlessly, echoing her exact thoughts and the word she had mumbled after their very first kiss only this time, with no music to drown out her voice, Soifon heard her say it.

"Glad you think so too," Soifon whispered back with a smile. Yoruichi smiled weakly back at her, the effects of the kiss were already starting to fade ad reality was pushing it's big ugly head to the forefront of her mind, confusing her heart with blatant facts, determined to ruin this moment for her. Soifon stood her up. Soifon blocked any contact. Soifon brushed her off in no less than 6 words, and Soifon was not her girlfriend.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Huh?" Soifon's own smile faltered at hearing this.

"This, us, the kiss...what are you doing?" Yoruichi repeated more forcefully, she wanted an answer to all this mess. Soifon however, did not give her one. "Why did you stand me up?" Yoruichi pressed further

"It's-it's complicated." Soifon mumbled, not able to meet Yoruichi in eye

"Complicated? If you were busy you should've called me."

"I don't know how to say it." Soi's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Just explain it to me." Yoruichi tried once more, frustrated that Soifon was just avoiding the issue at hand.

"It's not that simple."

"Then I'll tell you what is. I'm going." Without looking back her once, Yoruichi turned on her heel and stormed back inside the room, leaving Soifon alone on the balcony.

_I don't believe her! Why didn't she just tell me! It's not like I didn't give her the chance...I gave her lots of chances for that matter and not just tonight either._ She moved with a purpose through the crowds of people towards her table where she would sit and wait for Sora to arrive.

"She can't blame me for not trying, I gave her as many chances as Sora has given me," she grumbled to herself after she sat down. Yoruichi's eyes widened in shock as these words sunk into her own mind. _Oh god Sora...she's given me so many chances and I've just strung her along...No, no! I'm not that person anymore, I can fix this, I'm not going to let Soifon mess this up for me!_ She dug through her bag and pulled out her phone, luckily it didn't take long for Sora to answer once she called her.

"Hey, I was just about to head out the door." Sora explained.

"Don't bother; I was going to get a taxi back to yours." Yoruichi told her as she stood up from the table, ready to leave.

"Really?" There was surprise in Sora's tone this time.

"Sure, I've reached my limit for this place." Yoruichi explained, her eyes darting back to the balcony where she could see Soifon through the glass doors.

"Great, I'll leave the door unlocked." Sora squealed excitedly and hung up before another word could be exchanged.

**Saturday Morning**

"Morning sleepyhead." Sora greeted her with a warm smile.

Yoruichi groaned and pulled the covers back over her head, unwilling to deal with any of this.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry it took so long to finally get this posted but it was a lot of work and I didn't want to rush through it, I'm still not completely happy in conveying Soi's jealously enough but I did what I could and overall, I'm really proud of this chapter.  
>I think most of you got that I was going to have Soifon make an appearance at the party and that she is Sora's boss so I hope my plan to shake things up with that twist openingending threw you guys off again :P  
>Erm think the only thing left to say is, I hope you enjoy it &amp; a huge thank you for all the reviews!<p> 


	9. Take A Seat

**Hunted  
><strong>**Take A Seat**

"Morning sleepyhead." Sora greeted her with a warm smile.

Yoruichi groaned and pulled the covers back over her head, unwilling to deal with any of this.

"Oh come on now, don't be like that." Sora chuckled. Yoruichi's response came in the form of muffed grumbles, "That's what you get for drinking past your limit." Sora added once Yoruichi fell silent beneath the covers and took a sip from her coffee mug while she waited for a response from Yoruichi, who remained silent under the covers this time. She was too busy remembering what had changed everything last night.

* * *

><p><em>Yoruichi blinked at her phone for a moment, taken off guard at how excited Sora had sounded now that Yoruichi had agreed to return to her house for the night.<em>

"_Someone's eager..." she muttered under her breath as she put her phone away. For some reason this fact scared her a little bit though not willing to put any other reason behind why she felt that way ,Yoruichi pegged it down as nerves to it being their first time together. _

_Not wanting to spend any more time at the party, Yoruichi weaved through the crowd towards the exit, her eyes moving towards the balcony but someone always got in her line of sight so she couldn't tell if Soifon was still standing out there or not. She had nearly reached the lift that would take her away from the party when someone grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her to the side before she could turn on the stranger._

"_What do you think you're doing?" Yoruichi snapped impatiently when she saw the stranger was actually Soifon and she was suddenly thankful they were apart from the others and out of earshot so they didn't create a scene._

"_We need to talk." Soifon told her, determination sounded through her voice unlike before, a reminder to Yoruichi of how she had sounded when Soifon had asked her to dance on the night they met._

"_Famous words." Yoruichi responded, annoyed that she was enjoying the warmth coming from Soi's hand still holding onto her arm, though with a more relaxed grip now that they were facing one another._

"_Yoruichi." Soifon warned her in a low tone that she was not playing games this time round._

"_What do we need to talk about then?" Yoruichi pulled her arm free of Soi's grip and found no resistance to the movement, Soifon let go of her willingly, her traitorous mind already comparing it as a direct contrast to the struggle she had to go through to get out of Sora's grasp each and every time._

"_Us."_

"_According to you, there is no us." Yoruichi folded her arms across her chest and quirked an eyebrow at hearing Soi's simple statement. She wanted to give the impression that she was fed up over getting nowhere with Soifon and uninterested in what she had to say now though in truth, Yoruichi couldn't help but want to hear more._

"_That's why we need to talk." Soifon repeated._

"_Well any idiot could have worked that out." Yoruichi rolled her eyes at hearing Soi's comment again._

"_Look, I'm trying here and you're not making this any easier." Soifon gave up any pretence of trying to be patient._

"_Ok, let's talk." Yoruichi had no intention of talking; Soifon was the one who needed to explain herself._

"_What, here?" Soifon threw a quick glance around them, still very aware that they were under the public eye and appeared hesitant for the first time since she pulled Yoruichi aside._

"_Why not here?" Yoruichi was losing patience as well, she had just made up her mind to go through with things with Sora and now she was doubting her resolve to do so since she wanted things with Soifon to work out. That thought changed everything for her that night and it didn't feel like she had changed at all from how she used to be like in playing around with people's emotions just to suit herself._

"_I was hoping we could talk somewhere more private." Soifon explained further. _

"_Sora is expecting me." Yoruichi turned and left Soifon standing alone for the second time that night, out of spite this time for the way Soifon treated her before and because she swore she was going to make a change and not mess around with Sora anymore; Sora was her girlfriend so she was going to commit to her._

* * *

><p>Yoruichi pulled the covers off her head in frustration at how things were far from the normalcy she so desired at this stage.<p>

"I'm a mess." She mumbled to herself.

"You're not a mess." Sora responded without taking her eyes off the newspaper.

"How can you say that?" Yoruichi looked at Sora and how calm she appeared despite what had happened the night before.

* * *

><p><em>Yoruichi hadn't been at Sora's apartment for very long before Sora suggested they move into bedroom, not that it surprised Yoruichi, she had thrown herself on the blond woman the second she opened the door and they been making out since then. She was exploring Sora's body at a frenzied pace, desperately searching for something, that thing that was missing, that made her heart soar above the clouds and made her feel complete with no luck. They separated briefly for air and Sora used that moment to start unbuttoning the blouse she was wearing.<em>

_The movements remaindered her of the ones Soifon had done when she had unbuttoned her shirt the night they met and she recalled how Soi's pale skin had felt like silk beneath her fingertips. "Yoruichi…" Soifon breathed through a moan of pleasure and leaned into her, pressing their lips together, her eyes sliding shut to enhance their tender kiss._

_When Yoruichi opened her eyes again, she was surprised to see green eyes looking up at her and not Soifon's silver ones. Her body locked up in protest as Sora placed her arms around Yoruichi's neck to try and pull her closer to her._

"_You ok there?" Sora questioned when Yoruichi refused to move closer to her._

_Yoruichi stared down at Sora, unable to say a thing because she didn't know what to tell her, she was overcome with the need to have Soifon in her arms again and she didn't know why she hadn't stopped and listened to her when she had the chance. _

"_I can't do this." She whispered in realisation and pushed herself off Sora and rolled onto her side so her back was facing the now confused woman._

"_Care to explain that one?" Sora asked her and Yoruichi felt her sit back up._

"_I don't think I can keep seeing you." Yoruichi decided to get it out and over with instead of dancing around the subject. _

_She waited with baited breath for Sora's reaction._

"_I had a feeling that was the case." Sora sighed though didn't sound surprised at all which really threw Yoruichi off guard, so much so that she sat up to see if Sora was just trying to act calm but from the look in her eyes, she really meant it, her saying things were over came as no surprise to Sora._

"_Erm…I'm sorry?" Yoruichi replied tentatively, not really sure how to proceed next._

"_It's alright; you can't help it if you're not attracted to me." Sora smiled back at her briefly before she focused on buttoning up her blouse._

"_Erm hey, odd question: How long have you been psychic?" Yoruichi couldn't help but ask this, it seemed a fair question to ask seeing as how Sora had hit the nail on the head so to speak._

_Sora chuckled at this, "It feels like we have been going through the motions of a relationship without any follow through. I like you Yoruichi; I do but all this time, it's felt like we've been at the end of a relationship instead of the start of one." _

"_Don't know how but that actually makes sense." Yoruichi mused out loud. Sora nodded in confirmation. "I should go." Yoruichi declared once she couldn't take the silence between them after this._

"_What? No, look, its past midnight, I've been drinking, you've been drinking so just stay here tonight and I'll drop you off in the morning."_

"_I couldn't ask you to do that for me." Yoruichi protested but preferred the sound of just being able to go to sleep instead of facing a long walk home._

"_You didn't so that means you can accept my gracious offer." Sora stuck her tongue out at Yoruichi playfully._

* * *

><p>Yoruichi continued to watch Sora as she set aside her mug of coffee, things may not have worked out between them but she was still glad she had met Sora and part of her hoped that they could stay in touch.<p>

"You're a lot of things Yoruichi, but you're not a mess – you just know what you're looking for."

"I think I already found it…" Yoruichi murmured more to herself than to Sora and she recalled Soifon's expression faltering when Yoruichi told her she was going to Sora's place right before she left the party.

"Then you should go after it." Sora advised her with a soft smile.

"I think it's too late..." Yoruichi sighed. The two of them were quiet for a moment. A loud thwack rang through the air. Sora had chosen that moment to hit Yoruichi's head with the newspaper she had been reading.

"It is if you think like that!" Sora chided her while Yoruichi rubbed her head, more for show than out of any pain. Yoruichi stared back at her in disbelief. "Come on, get some breakfast and maybe then you'll stop moping around and think more positively." Sora than proceed to shoo Yoruichi off the bed and she was suddenly thankful Sora had let her borrow some warm pyjamas to sleep in since she noticed the temperature drop now that she was out from under the warm covers as Sora pushed her into the kitchen area.

* * *

><p>Soifon stormed along the corridors, her usual stoic expression replaced with a look that could kill any weaker beings the second they looked at her, as it was, many of her employees were making a point of hiding being paperwork and doing their dammed best to appear busy as hell lest she unleash her fury upon them.<p>

A night she had been looking forward to and actually thought she could enjoy had somehow turned into the night of living hell, made worse by her own mind torturing her all night long with dreams of being with Yoruichi only to be denied like she had been after she spent ages struggling over the idea of going after her, reflecting reality perfectly as it were. Her saving grace in the form of a sleep in had been cancelled by a frantic call from Nanao explaining that someone had got past security and the only reason she called her was because the intruder had been evading capture for over half an hour now.

By the time Soifon had reached the office building that made it 45 minutes… _45 minutes and still not captured, that has to be some sort of record; _this was high praise as far as Soifon was concerned, though it did mean that the thief obviously wanted something he couldn't find in the building or was doing it to get her attention and that they really wanted to talk. Since no one had been approached as of yet, it obviously indicated that they wanted to speak to her directly.

Not wanting to run around like a headless chicken trying to chase after the intruder like her security team was currently doing, she decided to go and wait in her office and knew that this person would soon pick up on the news of her arriving at the building if they didn't know it already. Nanao was sat at her own desk outside of Soifon's office, whispering frantically into a headset.

"Soifon, I'm so sorry to have -"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be in my office should our _guest_ drop by for a chat." Soifon cut her off curtly, without slowing down her stride and marched into her own office, shutting the door in time with the last word to leave her mouth. She really was in no mood to deal with this day so seeing Yoruichi leaning back in her own chair, with her feet up on the desk, one leg crossed over the other like she truly belonged there was enough to render Soifon speechless for 4.5 seconds.

"So you're the reason my security force are acting like Armageddon has arrived." Soifon stated after she managed to collect herself, not really needing any kind of confirmation to this.

"Yep." Yoruichi replied smugly, showing off a bright smile as well, it was almost infectious.

"You interrupted my sleep." _In more ways than one,_ Soifon added on mentally though managed to stop herself from saying it out loud.

The bright smile broke somewhat at hearing this and Soifon felt very exposed as Yoruichi's expression turned sombre, her golden eyes studied her appearance, soaking up every little detail about her worn down state.

"For which I'm truly sorry about but this couldn't wait another second." Yoruichi spoke honestly, again throwing Soifon for a loop with the amount of emotion that was behind the apology.

"What couldn't wait another second?" Soifon blamed her sleep deprived state for giving into whatever Yoruichi was after, knowing full well she would have acted like her usual stubborn self and gone a few rounds with the goddess sitting in front of her before anything of use was achieved, but today she did not have the energy to do so.

"Take a seat." Yoruichi indicated to the two chairs in front of the desk opposite her. _Nanao forgot to mention 'cocky' on that list of hers. _Soifon stared back at her briefly with a raised eyebrow before she relented and sat down in one of the chairs, focusing her attention back on the purple haired goddess sat behind her own desk, in her own chair. Yoruichi took this time to remove her feet off the desk, clasping her hands together neatly on the desk in a very business-like manner. "Comfy?" Yoruichi asked, her powerful gaze not leaving Soifon for a second. Soi nodded once to convey her answer. "Right, I'm going to say everything I need to say and then you can say whatever you want to say. Everything clear so far?" Again, Soifon nodded as her response, she was having a hard time trying to work out what Yoruichi could possible say to her this time.

"First off, I'm sorry about last night and the way I behaved to you, at the time I believed my reasons just and valid. Secondly, the relationship in place with Sora ended last night and finally, I still have feelings for you and if I go off that kiss last night, you still have feelings for me, correct?" Soifon could do nothing but nod this time round, she had not expected that at all and was enjoying the sense of relief wash over her as the images of Yoruichi and Sora lying together naked, their bodies entwined together, fade from her mind and being replaced with the fact that Yoruichi was now single and free to date.

"With this in mind, I propose that the two of us go out together on a date and I would prefer more than a nod this time." Yoruichi finished speaking, a slight smile curved across her lips, her hands were still clasped neatly together on the desk as she waited patiently for Soifon to answer her.

"You make it hard to resist such an offer with sound logic like that." Soifon stated calmly though the sight of Yoruichi sitting at her desk and asking her out as if they were discussing a business transaction was oddly amusing and she found herself smiling back at the tall beauty in front of her.

"Does that mean you accept?" Yoruichi pressed her for an answer, making it quite clear she wanted whatever it was between them resolved once and for all.

Soifon hesitated, not because she didn't want to accept but because she really was new to the whole dating world and if she had another moment of doubt and did something stupid; she would end up hurting Yoruichi again. On top of that, what if she couldn't keep up with the expectations Yoruichi had for their relationship, from the brief interactions she had witnessed between her and Sora, Yoruichi was very comfortable with her sexuality while she was still learning about it. She was bound to make rookie mistakes so the question was how many would Yoruichi withstand to still go out with her. When it felt like her head would explode from all the inadequacies she faced within herself at the prospect of dating, she looked at Yoruichi and nearly got lost in the determination shinning deep within her eyes. "Are you sure about this? If anything, all this has shown us that we don't do things normally."

"I've found normalcy to be overrated." Yoruichi countered without a pause.

"Then I accept." Soifon told her despite her doubts about entering a relationship; there was just something about Yoruichi's personality that appealed to her.

"Great!" Yoruichi's grin turned into a bright smile and Soifon couldn't help but smile in return at seeing the childlike hopefulness glistening within Yoruichi's eyes.

"I still have my doubts about this." Soifon voiced her concern, not able to shake the feeling that she was betraying her mother's wish despite wanting to be with Yoruichi.

"I'm asking for a date not you're hand in marriage." Yoruichi teased, earning a snicker of laughter from Soifon. "It's just a date, doesn't have to be a big romantic night, it can be right now if you're free and if you really can't stand the thought of being with me after that, I promise not to break into your building again." Yoruichi succeeded in making Soifon laugh again.

"Well…I was going to take the day off…" Soifon admitted, preferring the sound of their date being more casual.

"So it's a date?" Yoruichi asked, sounding very hopeful.

"It's a date." Soifon confirmed much to Yoruichi's delight.

"Great! Let's get going then." Yoruichi declared happily as she leapt to her feet now that she finally got her date with Soifon.

"So what's the plan for this date?" Soifon asked as she allowed Yoruichi to take her by the hand and lead her out of the office. Yoruichi looked back over her shoulder at Soifon before she opened the door to leave.

"Err…" She responded sheepishly with a look that clearly meant she had no clue.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry for the long delay on this update, hope it was worth the wait and if not, I will try better next time so don't throw anything at me please!  
>Also, since Yoruichi's last words mimic my ideas for their casual date, I'm open to suggestions for inspiration :D<br>Oh, if this feels a bit rushed, it's most likely because it is - I left it too long sicne Ilast updated so I fell out of the pacing I usually use but like I said, I'll try better next time lol  
>As usual, I hope you enjoyed reading this.<p> 


	10. Third Date, Second Attempt

**Hunted**  
><strong>Third Date - Second Attempt<strong>

Soifon gave a very doubtful look at Yoruichi upon seeing her guilty expression at not having some kind of plan on what they would actually spend their time doing.

"What? I don't have _all_ the answers." Yoruichi defended herself. Soifon remained unimpressed as they left her office together, "It's you date too you know, feel free to – Nanao?" Yoruichi stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of the familiar woman sat at the assistant's desk, still frantically giving orders into the headset she was wearing. Yoruichi noticed that Nanao had grown since she last saw her but she looked very much the same as she always had with her black hair tied neatly out of the way and she could have sworn she even had the same glasses on.

"It's good to see you again Yoruichi." Nanao nodded to her in greeting, not the least bit surprised to see Yoruichi again.

"I'm glad you're doing well." Yoruichi cast a quick look at Soifon who was observing the exchange with her usual stoic expression. She would have loved to stay and catch up with Nanao but this was technically her impromptu date and she didn't want Soifon getting bored, but she did need to know a few things while she had the chance. "Are you still hanging around with Shunsui?"

"I couldn't get rid of him if I tried." Nanao told her, though she didn't sound too upset by this fact. Yoruichi realised she had been tense since she first spotted Nanao and she felt herself relax after hearing about Shunsui.

"Listen, I'm kind of busy right now but we have to catch up some time." Yoruichi explained hastily after casting another glance at Soifon who had been approached by one of her workers, Yoruichi could tell from Soi's body language alone that she really wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever the man was trying to talk to her about.

"Of course, I'll inform Shunsui." Nanao confirmed, also casting a look at Soifon after noticing Yoruichi's constant glances at her though she did not say anything.

"Thanks, I'll see you around ok." Yoruichi smiled gratefully at her before saving Soifon from the babbling man, "Sorry for the wait there Soi but I'm ready now." Soifon stared back at Yoruichi curiously before she waved the man off dismissively and ignored his protests.

"When did I say you could start calling me Soi?" she asked Yoruichi as they both started walking along the corridor together, not caring about any possible gossip spreading about her walking beside the intruder. _Dam, I should have got Nanao to call off the security teams..._ If she had more energy, she would have just turned around and dealt with it now but so long as Yoruichi didn't wander off by herself, she could deal with any approaching guards.

"Would you prefer being called Soi-chan?" Yoruichi grinned.

Soifon looked unamused by this, "Soi is fine."

"You sure, I quite like the sound of bee now instead." Yoruichi admitted.

"Huh?"

"Bee, your name, it means bee right? Well broken bee but I could get used to calling you bee." Yoruichi explained while Soifon was playing catch up with the conversation as they stood waiting for the lift.

"Yeah…I-I think that's right -"

"I am not getting in that thing again. Wait for me on the ground floor ok bee." Yoruichi waved to Soifon and ran off towards the stairs just as the lift doors opened.

"I said you can call me Soi, I don't mind – wait, what?" Soifon barely caught sight of Yoruichi's purple hair vanishing through the doors leading to the stairwell. _She's voluntarily running all the way down to the ground floor, that's got to be…over a– urgh, a lot of stairs. _Soifon gave up trying to work out how many stairs it would be within seconds and concluded that sleep was required as soon as possible for her brain to start fully functioning again. _Oh crap, _Soifon forced her legs to work and she tore after the purple haired goddess when she realised she had just let Yoruichi wander off by herself in a building with trained professionals searching for anyone without an employee badge.

"Yoruichi wait! Security is still after you remember!" Soifon called out the moment she entered the stairwell, her voice reverberated around the room several times before fading away into nothing.

"Yeah and?" Yoruichi's voice echoed upwards in response. Soifon poked her head over the banister to look down and saw Yoruichi doing the same; only she was looking up at Soifon. Yoruichi had managed to get down 5 flights of stairs in the time it took Soifon to chase after her, which Soifon had to admit was impressive, though Yoruichi dismissing the news that she was being hunted for like it was nothing left Soifon completely stumped.

"Err…well –it's -that's a bad thing." Soifon was unable to think of anything else to say. Yoruichi's nonchalant expression turned into a bright smile, thus disarming Soifon even more than before.

"Awwww, I didn't realise you cared about me that much Soi-bee."

"Soi-bee?" Soifon repeated this new name to herself distastefully. "You can pick one or the other but no way I'm letting you call me Soi-bee."

"Great, bee it is." Yoruichi called back up to her happily.

"No, I – huh…what just happened?" Soifon trailed off once she realised Yoruichi had just gotten permission to refer to her as bee.

"What's going on out here?" A gruff sounding voice interrupted their conversation and by the sound of things, the man had entered the stairwell on Yoruichi's level. "It's you!" he shouted at Yoruichi, leaving Soifon to believe they must have bumped into one another at some point before her arrival and started to rush down the stairs to meet up with the two of them before anything happened.

"You again?" Yoruichi's head vanished out of sight as she moved to face whoever it was questioning her, "Didn't I knock you out before?" Soifon couldn't help but wonder why Yoruichi would want to annoy the security guard.

"I'll get you this time!" the man shouted out triumphantly.

"Wait!" Soifon tried to call out but was too late; there was the unmistakable sound of someone grunting in pain, followed by a dull thud, every sound amplified by it echoing off the walls. _Great, just what a date needs - , _Soifon thought after jumping down the last set of steps and turned to go down the next set but stopped dead in her tracks -_a trip to the hos-pi...tal_ There at the bottom of the stairs, was the knocked out security guard with Yoruichi standing over him looking completely fine.

"You'd think he'd have learnt from the last time." Yoruichi lamented for the man's sake and noticed the surprised look on Soifon's face as she moved down the stairs towards her. "What? Told you I knew martial arts." Yoruichi shrugged.

"Is he going to be ok?" Soifon examined the unconscious man.

"He'll be fine when he wakes up." Yoruichi waved dismissively and jogged over to the next flight of stairs leading downwards.

"You're not really going to run all the way down to the bottom, are you?" Soifon asked when she noticed Yoruichi was not heading to the door leading out of the stairwell.

"Pretty much, safer than that tin can at least."

"Safer? For you maybe but apparently not my security team." Soifon mumbled, her eyes fixed on the sleeping man again.

"You'll just have to come along and make sure they don't do anything stupid then!" Yoruichi grinned at Soi and took off down the stairs.

"You're crazy!" Soifon called after Yoruichi, "Do you realise how many stairs we'll have to go down?"

"Come on, we'll be at the bottom within a flash!"

* * *

><p>Both Yoruichi and Soifon were sprawled out across a flight of stairs somewhere between floors 23 and 22.<p>

"Al-alright… so it wasn't…in-in a flash." Yoruichi managed to get out between gasps for much needed air. She looked over at Soifon's hunched over form when the snide comment she expected was not delivered and saw her shoulders shaking slightly. "You alright…Soi?" Yoruichi made herself sit up to get a better look at Soifon and check that she was alright when it sounded like she was sobbing.

Soifon bust out laughing, unable to contain it any longer, of all the things she had pictured as things people do on dates together, running down the stairs of a skyscraper had never once featured on that list. "Did I miss something?" Yoruichi asked, watching Soi's laughing fit with a bemused expression.

"It's this-all of this is crazy." Soifon laughed. Yoruichi chuckled though soon found herself laughing purely because Soifon was laughing, it was infectious and seeing Soifon's lovely, bright smile warmed her very heart.

"Yep, it sure is crazy." Yoruichi agreed softly, not able to nor did she want to take her eyes off of Soifon.

* * *

><p>Not having any kind of a plan worked out on what they could do together once they made it to the ground floor in one piece, they set off walking around the city centre from Soifon's office and even though they did nothing but window shop and talk. Yoruichi felt like this was the best thing they could have done since she was aware of Soifon being tired, they could set their own pace, take breaks when needed, plus wandering around all the shops gave her a chance to find out what kind of things Soifon liked.<p>

"One more thing, I would not have any face concealing helmets – the visors would be see-through so any would be heroes could not disguise themselves as my soldiers." Soifon explained matter-of-factly as they left the DVD store together.

"Ah, good one - that's always a big mistake." Yoruichi agreed. As soon as they had entered the DVD store, both of them rushed straight for the action section and spent ages talking about and recommending some of the favourite action/adventure movies and ended up discussing in great detail all the classic mistakes the bad guy makes. Much to Yoruichi's amusement, Soifon had created her own 'What Not To Do' list should she ever decide to try and take over the world. "Though it's always great to see the look on their faces when you take the mask off and they realise they were tricked."

"Somehow I get the feeling you would enjoy doing that." Soifon commented, recalling Yoruichi's smug toothy grin she showed off the two times she had gotten into her building up to now.

"You make it sound like I do it on a regular basis." Yoruichi laughed.

"I'm beginning to think you do. Even with training, being able to avoid capture for as long as you did is very impressive." Soifon turned away from Yoruichi the moment she let those words escape from her mouth. She was always so careful to keep her true feelings hidden, even from those she considered friends. She always made sure to guard herself and yet she revealed part of her admiration towards Yoruichi like it had been nothing that it surprised her how easily it had slipped out.

"Do I detect a hint of flattery?" Yoruichi teased, not wanting to miss a possible chance at making Soifon blush now that she got the opportunity. Soifon refused to make eye contact with Yoruichi as she leaned closer to her, which only served to deepen her blush as she was all too aware of that fact that they were in the middle of busy shopping centre.

"I-it's understandable that I would ad-admire aspects of-of you." Soifon finished meekly, aware of how stupid she sounded from her lack of experience in this subject matter. Yoruichi's teasing grin turned into a genuine warm smile at seeing how uncertain Soifon appeared, emphasised more by her tired appearance and the oversized clothes she had thrown on to leave the house. It was a direct contrast to the stern, workaholic Soifon Yoruichi had seen so many months ago now and it gave her a look of vulnerability that made Yoruichi want to wrap her up in a big fluffy blanket. Having no blanket available though, Yoruichi settled for pulling Soi into a hug from behind and met little resistance from Soifon apart from her tensing up slightly at Yoruichi lowering her head just over her left shoulder.

"You really haven't done this type of thing before, have you?" Yoruichi murmured softly to her. Soifon remained quiet, "Is this the whole 'it's complicated' matter?" Yoruichi tried again.

"Yes." Soifon answered after clearing her throat and shifted under Yoruichi's hold on her.

"Well, just another piece of the puzzle that I have to find." Yoruichi broke the intimate hold she had on Soifon in hopes of making her feel more at ease while patting her on the back to get her moving again.

They passed by a shop window in silence while weaving through the festive shoppers.

"Won't you get bored once the picture is complete?" Soifon asked and watched Yoruichi carefully for her answer.

"Nope, because then I get to appreciate it all the more." Yoruichi reassured her without needing to think about her answer as they walked side by side. "Oooo, that looked nice." Yoruichi commented about something she saw in the shop window they were passing. Soifon looked around to see that Yoruichi had spotted a dark, multi-coloured stripped poncho.

"Matches the upcoming holiday well." Soi commented at seeing the dark green and red colours of it.

"Yep, that time of year again. Always say I'll get the Christmas shopping done early but end up doing a mad dash out on Christmas Eve." Yoruichi chuckled, "How about you?"

"Hmm? Oh I usually get wrapped up in the office parties that by the time I get some peace and quiet, Christmas has come and gone." Soifon explained with a yawn.

"I'm boring you already? Good to know I lasted a couple of hours." Yoruichi laughed, Soifon elbowed her playfully for making a very bad joke and explained it was because she was tired. Yoruichi looked around and saw a small restaurant across from them where they could sit for a little bit to let Soifon rest. It also gave her the chance to try out a few things on the menu now that she was starting to feel hungry and the lovely smelling foods made Soifon realise how hungry she was as well and they ended up spending a lot more time than they realised in the quaint corner café, swapping stories and people watching while they ate.

Soifon told Yoruichi about her move to the city after finishing her education in China and how she had gotten an intern job at Balance Industries and that she spent the rest of her time since then working her way to the top. "Luckily I was able to patch up the messes the last guy in charge made and well, here I am now." Soifon finished speaking.

"Bet that wasn't easy." Yoruichi commented, prompting Soifon to continue.

"Not one bit." Soifon admitted, "It took a while before they would even consider listening to my ideas, let alone go through with them."

"Sounds like it was worth it though, a good job, nice neighbourhood…steady routine…I'd like that." Yoruichi trailed off. "Not the working in the office bit but defiantly the stability it offers." she explained hastily after realising she had gotten lost in daydreaming.

"Why, what do you do?" Soifon asked through a yawn.

"I used to be a model." Yoruichi saw Soifon's curious expression so continued to explain. "I haven't done any recent work but it's not for a lack of wanting…more a recommendation to not do anything for a bit." Soifon remained quiet which Yoruichi took as a sign to go on, "Urgh, I was hoping to not go into this so soon, didn't want to scare you off so soon." Yoruichi groaned.

"I'm too tired to run off anywhere right now so go on." Soifon indicated for Yoruichi to explain further.

"Alright, I had some fans go a little nuts…they caused a lot of trouble." Yoruichi shrugged it off.

"Can't help but get the feeling that's the abridged version." Soifon studied Yoruichi's expression, trying to see past the carefree attitude she was displaying.

"I can't reveal all my secrets in one day." Yoruichi replied slyly. Soifon was thinking of a way to get Yoruichi to tell her more about what happened when the waitress brought over the desert Yoruichi had ordered and she lost the woman to the chocolate pudding, if she learnt one thing from this meeting with Yoruichi, it was that she loved food. Another thing Soifon discovered was that she really did enjoy Yoruichi's company, there seemed to be something genuine in Yoruichi's interest in her when compared to others who only wanted her friendship for their own gain.

"This hasn't been too bad, right?" Yoruichi cast a sideways look at Soifon now that they were getting closer to her office building and the end of their impromptu date.

"It was nice to get out of the office and relax for a bit, it - it was needed." Soifon admitted.

"Think you can give me a call next time you need a break from the paperwork…or when you get some free time?" Yoruichi tried to make this sound as casual as possible.

"Subtle Yoruichi." Soifon smirked at the not so casual attempt now that they had come to a standstill outside Balance Industries.

"I'm just making sure you don't slip through my fingers again." A devilish look flashed across Yoruichi's face and she leaned in dangerously close to Soifon to steal a kiss to make sure her interest in Soifon was perfectly clear. Panic gripped Soifon at seeing Yoruichi's advance on her; they were in plain sight of anyone who just happened to be looking outside, not to mention anyone passing by the building.

It felt like she was working herself into a very painful headache over the decision to give into her feelings and let Yoruichi kiss her or back off when everything stopped. All she was aware of was the soft delicious taste of chocolate on her lips. The sensation stopped as soon as it started and she was left in a kind of stupor as she tried desperately to cling to the sense of calm pulsating through her.

"Don't leave me waiting too long ok bee." Yoruichi's smug voice drifted through her ear, Soifon opened her eyes contently and saw Yoruichi waving goodbye to her as she left the building lot. Her eyes lingered on Yoruichi's departing form while her mind was rebooting itself from the pleasant surprise of being kissed and was really glad she had spent too long working out what to do to actually do anything to stop it from happening. This thought made her blush and she hurried off towards her car at a brisk pace, eager to not be caught blushing like an idiot by someone brave enough to tease her about it later on.

* * *

><p>Kukaku leaned back into the sofa with a sigh and flicked her eyes back at Kisuke, there were times when she thought this man was too laid back for his own good and this was one of those times.<p>

"I can only do so much and this changes a lot of things." She hoped he would give her a serious answer this time round, they'd been talking for a half an hour now and it felt like she had gotten nowhere since she arrived at his place.

"It doesn't change anything; it certainly doesn't require us to move anyway." Kisuke responded calmly, "However, it does mean we have to be more careful." He added in a quieter tone when they both heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs.

"Try telling her that." Kukaku muttered under her breath as Yoruichi poked her head round the doorway to see them both sitting on the sofas with grim expressions. Kukaku examined Yoruichi's appearance, she looked terrible and it was very clear she was ill.

"Dod mind me, keep plodding -" Yoruichi broke out into a coughing fit, "Urgh…secred plands – I'm going oud anyway." Her voice heavily distorted from the cold she had caught a few days after her time out with Soifon and since her place would no doubt make her feel worse, she been allowed some time at Kisuke's to rest and recover.

"The only place you should be going is back to bed." Kukaku chided.

"Bud Soifon called saying she wanded to meed up." Yoruichi whined pathetically.

"Ah yes, the fabled Soifon…when do we get to meet her?" Kisuke chimed in happily as Yoruichi moved away from the door and out of sight down the hallway.

"Oh sure, leave Sora alone for bonths but dorment Soi in de first week? No way!" Yoruichi yelled back and they heard her break into another coughing fit from the strain she put on her voice.

"Yoruichi you need to rest! Call her back; switch it for when you're feeling better ok." Kukaku called out to her, half tempted to drag her butt back upstairs and make her rest.

"You know it's impossible to control her." Kisuke laughed at Kukaku's growing temper.

"This is exactly why I suggested it in the first place," Kukaku grumbled back at him, getting back to her original point, "If something happens here, I can only keep her safe for so long."

"It will happen eventually, we can't outrun it forever and besides, I like it here and so does Yoruichi." Kisuke countered.

"Pfft, she just likes the people here." Kukaku complained.

"Nope, nod people -Soifon. Back lader guys!" Yoruichi flashed them a smile through the doorway and vanished again down the hall.

"Yoruichi come back here!" Kukaku stood up to go after her but heard the front door open and close as Yoruichi left the building, Kukaku allowed herself to fall back onto the sofa and pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "Have I told you how grateful I am to have you guys back?" Her voice laced with sarcasm. Kisuke smiled sheepishly back at her.

* * *

><p>Soifon stood on the corner close to Balance Industries and was busy putting her phone away from checking the time when Yoruichi tapped her on her shoulder.<p>

"Hey, sorry I'm lade but dook longer gedding -"

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Soifon questioned instantly at seeing Yoruichi's condition, her healthy coloured face now had a sickly tinge to it and there were bags under her eyes that had lost their golden sparkle. "Should you even be up right now? You look terrible."

"Danks for de compliment, you look gread doo." Yoruichi responded with a weak grin, her voice full with cold.

"Ok even your voice is completely different." Soifon blinked at how masculine she sounded from just having cold.

"I'mb ill, nod my fauld." Yoruichi mumbled, pulling her jacket closer around her to block out the wind.

"Why didn't you say something before? You should be home resting." Soifon had wondered why Yoruichi's voice had sounded weird on the phone but Yoruichi had said it was nothing so she put it down to a bad phone connection, now she was wishing she had questioned it further. It had taken a long, lengthy mental debate on her part to actually call Yoruichi in the first place and now Soifon was wishing she hadn't, she could have spared Yoruichi the trip out and felt bad for even making the call in the first place.

"Wanded do see you dough." Soifon's steel gaze softened at hearing Yoruichi's statement. The moment ended abruptly by Yoruichi's loud sneeze.

"Alright, this can wait another time; you need to go back home and rest." Soifon smiled at her sympathetically when Yoruichi gave her an apologetic look, "Do you need a ride home or something?" Soifon offered in hopes of clearing her guilty conscious for dragging Yoruichi all the way over here for nothing.

"Well…I'mb staying wid my friend for now." Yoruichi offered and mentally cursed afterwards when she realised Kisuke may get to meet Soifon sooner than expected.

"My car's over there," Soifon jerked her thumb over her shoulder back towards the car park, "Give me directions and I'll get you home." Before Yoruichi could offer any kind of protest, Soifon gently pulled her in the direction of the car park.

* * *

><p>Kisuke wandered lethargically back into the main room and stopped in front of the large bay window to enjoy the sun rays warming his skin while Kukaku was browsing through the TV channels with a bored expression.<p>

"You do know you have your own house, right?" He commented and took a sip from his cup of coffee, his eyes watching the yellow sports car that had pulled up in front of his house while Kukaku chose to ignore his statement. "Scratch that, you are _not_ gonna want to miss this." He grinned at what he was witnessing.

"Why, what is it?" Kukaku perked up, recognising the almost gleeful tone in his voice.

"You know our uncontrollable woman." he said as Kukaku moved over towards him to look out the window with a quick nod in acknowledgment. "Take a look at her now." He commented smugly and Kukaku couldn't stop the grin spreading across her own face at seeing Yoruichi being lead up the pathway to the house by a woman shorter than herself.

"The fabled Soifon…" Kisuke nodded in approval and looked at Kukaku happily.

"I like her already." Kukaku smirked and moved away from the window, "I'll go let them in."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I know this is way overdue but here it is at last, don't know when I'll get the next one cause final year at college, need to really be doing work etc blar blar.  
>Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and that this story still holds your interest :D<p>

Oh and did it work having the speech messed up to show Yoruichi as ill or not? I didn't know if I should do it or not so if you guys liked that I worte it that way let me know or if you prefer me writing it normally next time, let me know - I'm torn over the matter (it's easy to write it but your the ones who have to read it that way XD )


	11. Staying Calm

**Hunted  
>Staying Calm<strong>

Yoruichi begrudgingly allowed Soifon to tow her up the pathway to Kisuke's house, very aware that every step taken was counting down the last moments of any private time she would have with Soifon once they were inside for who knows how long. Yoruichi pulled Soifon by her hand backwards into herself and was rewarded with a blush taking over Soi's face at bumping into her.

"If I didn't have a cold right now I would so kiss you." Yoruichi whispered, captivated by Soifon's sparkling silver eyes.

"Since when did that ever stop you before?" Soifon sprang free from Yoruichi's hold on her at the stranger's voice interrupting them while Yoruichi turned with a sigh to see Kukaku grinning at them both from the now open doorway.

"Couldn't have waited till I was inside -" Yoruichi sneezed loudly. "Urgh…before you started picking on me, hmm?"

"Oh that's attractive." Kukaku teased Yoruichi further at the sight of her wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Shut up." Yoruichi whined pathetically back at her.

"She has a point." Soifon agreed now that she been able to compose herself after being caught like she had been with Yoruichi and thankfully Yoruichi's ill state was making it a lot easier for the strange fluttering sensation in her stomach to calm down.

"Aren't you meant to be on my side?" Yoruichi eyed Soifon who just shrugged back at her innocently.

"See, anymore advances in your condition will just scare her off." Kukaku offered Soi her hand in a formal greeting, "I'm Kukaku by the way."

"Soifon," she shook Kukaku's hand gladly. "For the record, I don't scare easily."

"Clearly since you're willing to put up with that mess." Kukaku jerked her thumb towards Yoruichi with a devilish smile, clearly proud of herself for coming up with that.

"You know, I can hear you." Yoruichi sniffled and rubbed her already sore nose again.

"It's what you get for going out instead of resting." Kukaku told her smugly to which Soifon smirked and Yoruichi glared at her, "Alright, alright, I'll play nice. Come on inside." Kukaku gestured for them to follow her inside.

"Where's Kisuke hiding?" Yoruichi asked, eyeing the hallway as she entered for any signs of Kisuke waiting to pounce on them, "This is Kisuke's place, Kukaku's just visiting – Soi, you coming in?" Yoruichi glanced over her shoulder at Soifon still standing by the front door looking back towards her car.

"I was thinking I should probably leave, I don't want to put any extra strain on you when you should be resting."

"Nonsense!" Kukaku declared before Yoruichi could say anything to make her stay, "This is a great chance for us to get to know you and we have Kisuke to boss around, it's three and against one, we can take him on easily." Kukaku practically pulled Soifon inside and closed the door afterwards.

"I'm not one to turn away three lovely ladies such as yourselves, now who wants to go first?" Kisuke came out of the living room with his arms spread open as if expected one of them to hug him.

"And that's Kisuke." Yoruichi informed Soifon.

"I gathered." Soifon examined Kisuke with a raised eyebrow; it looked like he was wearing dark green pyjamas that were three sizes too big for him. "Hi, I'm -"

"Soifon, I know, I've heard a lot about you and the pleasure is all mine." Kisuke bowed his head to Soifon in greeting.

"Sheesh, calm down there, she's already been taken." Kukaku rolled her eyes at his behaviour and shoved him back into the main room and followed after him, leaving Yoruichi and Soifon in the hallway together.

"They're erm…lively." Soifon commented as she moved to stand beside Yoruichi.

"Yeah, they're easily excited but don't worry they'll calm down eventually." Yoruichi reassured her, "You know, you didn't have to stay, you could have gone if you wanted."

"No it's alright, besides I do have some free time to get to know them." Soifon explained as Yoruichi moved closer to her.

"And here I was hoping you wanted to get extra time with me." Yoruichi pouted.

"Oh right, I'd forgot you'd be here too." Soifon joked and Yoruichi nudged Soifon away from her playfully.

"I think your being around Kukaku has affected your sense of humour." Yoruichi observed.

"Oh come on now, it _is_ great seeing you again." Soifon admitted, "I've been so stressed out at the office over this deal and the guy just won't budge. I normally would've just said to hell with it and sent him on his way by now but the all high mighty board members want this guy so -"

"Hey Soi. Breathe ok." Yoruichi chuckled. "You're here now, not at the office and you can relax some." Yoruichi pulled Soifon closer to her body for a gentle hug.

"My point was that this time out was needed." Soifon concluded matter-of-factly and felt rather pleased with herself for not stammering this time round at Yoruichi being so close to her.

"I know something else that is needed." Yoruichi murmured and she leaned in to kiss Soifon only she felt herself about to sneeze again and quickly withdrew from Soifon, "Urgh…sorry…" Yoruichi mumbled pathetically, her voice thick with cold.

"It's fine." Soifon smiled back sympathetically, "We may as well join them." She indicated towards the door was to the living room which Yoruichi agreed and led the way into the room where Kisuke and Kukaku were already sat with Kukaku quizzing him his greeting and why had shivery been forgotten about by the general male population. Her irritation over the subject increased when Kisuke pointed out that neither Yoruichi nor Soifon had to worry about chivalry when they sat down on the empty sofa together.

"That's not entirely true. It works both ways too. I'd have a thing or two to say if the woman acted like a jerk." Yoruichi retaliated.

"Wouldn't that mean the woman in question was just a jerk?" Kukaku questioned.

"Again, not true – they could be lovely but what if they always stuck you with the bill?" Yoruichi countered again.

"That's like saying manners and the personality are separate things – I was under the impression they made up your personality." Soifon interjected.

"Ah but you can make a change and decide to do chivalrous things where I'd say it's harder to change your personality." Kisuke stated as he stood up, "For example, I am about to go top up my coffee and ask if anyone else would like a cup as well. It doesn't change who I am, it's just a nice gesture. Would anyone like some?" he asked but all three of them declined as he left the room.

"That just means you're a nice person to start with and that you weren't doing anything different to your nature." Kukaku joined Soifon's point of view.

"Are all of your conversations like this?" Soifon quietly asked Yoruichi.

"Nah, like I said, they're trying to impress you." Yoruichi sniggered.

"Uh huh, just be on the lookout for when _she_ tries to impress you Soifon. It's scary." Kukaku quipped back at her.

"Ever heard of the phrase 'if you can't say anything good then say nothing at all'?" Yoruichi asked to which Kukaku stuck her tongue out at her. "That's her true nature, right there. Forget all that intelligence crap from earlier." Yoruichi pointed to Kukaku and looked at Soi for confirmation but instead Soifon continued to observe their playful jabs at one another in silence and Kisuke made no attempt to stop them either when he returned. In fact he added fuel to fire with one off statements to keep them going and appeared to find it rather amusing, particularly since Yoruichi's voice was full of cold since they could tease her about that too.

"Please feel free to defend me anytime you know." Yoruichi prodded Soifon in the arm.

"That's quite alright, besides, this is better than the stuff they put on TV." Soifon stated, quite happy to keep sitting on the side-lines and enjoy the show, she could tell they were all very close friends from observing the way the acted around each other and could easily believe them being child hood friends as well.

"I've always said TV writers get their inspiration from real life situations, I'd say this would be one of those times." Kisuke laughed at them both.

"Yeah? Well I've always believed that some horror writer must have created you." Yoruichi shot back, broke out into a coughing fit though earned a small bonus in that she succeeded to make Soifon laugh.

"From what I've seen so far, I have to say that holds true for the lot of you." Soifon managed to say once she calmed down.

"The quick wit finally emerges." Kisuke nodded in approval of Soi's statement with a sly grin.

"And you just get a lot creepier." Yoruichi countered through a quick sniffle and she focused on the man for the first time since she had arrived. Yoruichi had planned to watch him like she had done with Sora but only this time, she had gotten too caught up in everything going and having fun to spend time worrying about what he could be plotting for once. Yoruichi caught his gaze with a quizzical look and was relieved when he acknowledged her with his rare, genuine smile that only those close to him could understand its true meaning. Yoruichi had built a strong, long lasting friendship between Kukaku and Kisuke throughout the years of knowing one another. From that friendship, she based a lot on their opinions and would hold their word above anyone else's when it came down to a matter of trust. So when Yoruichi saw him smiling like that, she knew that he was saying that everything was fine and that she had no need to worry.

Acting on her friend's queue that she could stay relaxed, Yoruichi shifted a little closer to Soifon and chuckled at how Kukaku was now picking on Kisuke as well. Yoruichi felt Soifon stiffen instantly and knew she had made a mistake in trying to snuggle up against her in front of the others, it was obviously a daunting thing for Soifon to show any kind of public display no matter how small so early on in their relationship that Yoruichi quickly backed off but not fast enough to stop Soi's calculating mind from working out how to leave.

"It's been very interesting meeting you both but I think I've imposed long enough on your hospitality." Soifon announced, effectively ending Kisuke and Kukaku's conversation as they focused on her instead.

"What, you haven't been here that long." Kukaku pointed out.

"I still haven't had lunch and there's a conference at five that I need to prepare for." Soifon explained as she stood up to leave.

"That's still hours away yet and he may not look like it but Kisuke's a great cook, I'm sure he could make you something." Yoruichi gave Kisuke a very pitiful look, willing him to agree so that Soifon would stay longer.

"Err of course," Kisuke smiled brightly and he sprang to his feet. "Come through to the kitchen and find something you feel like eating. No guest shall ever go hungry in my home. Follow me." Soifon sighed at the course of events but followed him anyway since any argument she could think of to leave would be knocked over by three others, it was easier for her to let them win this round.

Yoruichi stands up to follow them out the room and stumbles slightly as her vision blurred from the room spinning all around her. She managed to steady herself though remained still shortly after her vision returned to normal as she waited for the pounding in her skull to calm down.

"You ok there?" Kukaku observed from her spot on the sofa.

"Mm, head rush." Yoruichi waved it off nonchalantly and continued through to the kitchen. Kukaku watched her leave the room and looked around the now empty room till she was simply staring at the blank TV screen by herself.

"Well since everyone else is going." She muttered and she too, got up and went into the kitchen with everyone else to find Kisuke busy rummaging around his freezer, pulling all sorts of food items from it and making a lot of mess. He was talking so loudly about what he could make he hadn't heard Soifon say she'd have the fish he produced at the start that she turned the oven on and was already busy preparing it herself. Yoruichi was no help whatsoever since she was sat on top of a kitchen counter trying not to laugh at the man slowly vanishing inside his freezer to stop him. Kukaku provided the voice of reason for once and soon had Kisuke repacking his freezer and back on cooking duty with Soifon to prepare the salad for everyone, though Yoruichi declined from the meal.

"Not ready to eat yet." Yoruichi explained while rubbing her forehead gently, the dizziness she felt earlier had developed into a headache that was slowly getting worse and she was doing her best to ignore it.

"When you voluntarily turn down food, it's a clear sign something is wrong." Kisuke laughed.

"Ha ha." Yoruichi replied sarcastically while topping up her glass of water while the others were happily digging into their meal. Both Kisuke and Kukaku congratulated Soifon on her cooking of the lemon sol fish and Kisuke congratulated himself for making the salad. Clearly being the most hungry person out of the group, Soifon finished her meal first and was the first to notice Yoruichi holding her forehead by the sink, her eyes clenched shut as if she was in pain but before she could say anything, Yoruichi looked up at her with a quick smile, obviously putting up a brave front to whatever she was feeling.

"I'm going back into the TV room." Yoruichi explained, her voice giving away how tired she really felt.

"We'll be through in a bit." Kisuke waved as Yoruichi left them eating in the kitchen. Soifon watched her go, unsure if she should follow or not since she had not been asked directly but she did want to see how Yoruichi was doing.

Soifon looked at both Kisuke and Kukaku then downed her drink in one go, leaving them both to their banter in the kitchen while she went after Yoruichi, who was exactly where she said she'd be. Yoruichi was sat, leaning back against the sofa with her eyes shut, her lips parted slightly to breathe through since her nose was blocked up from the cold.

"How you doing over there?" Soifon asked as she approached Yoruichi.

"Mmm… tired that's all." Yoruichi murmured and inclined her head towards Soifon as she sat down on the sofa beside her though Yoruichi kept her eyes shut.

"You're burning up." Soifon mutters to herself after pressing her hand against Yoruichi's forehead, "You sure it's just a cold?"

"I'll be fine after I sleep..." Yoruichi mumbles while shifting closer to Soifon so that she could rest her head against Soi's shoulder.

"W-what are you doing?" Soifon stammered, completely caught off guard by the movement.

"Sleeping." Yoruichi whispered in answer as she made herself more comfortable against Soifon.

"Err…Okay…" Soifon blinked down at the now still Yoruichi and wondered if this was something she was meant to get used to if she was entering a relationship with her. She's seen the couples fall asleep on one another in lots of movies before but it was something entirely different to actually have it happen to herself. "Wouldn't you prefer to sleep in a bed?" Soi asked though was doing her best not to move since she didn't want to disturb Yoruichi.

"…I'll get in it if you do." Yoruichi replied softly with a playful smile.

"Yoruichi!" Soifon instantly pulled away from Yoruichi with a shriek, her face burning bright red at the suggestion. Yoruichi couldn't help but laugh at her reaction; she thought Soifon was just too adorable and innocent for her own good.

"Relax," Yoruichi pattered Soifon's shoulder for reassurance since her face was still glowing red. "I was kidding, relax." Yoruichi took her own advice and before Soifon could protest, made herself quite comfy against the smaller woman again, only this time she rested her head on Soi's lap so she could stretch out along the sofa.

"You're…strange." Soifon looked away from observing Yoruichi's shuffling around in her quest to get comfortable with a slight tinge of red to her cheeks from how she had been turned into a pillow.

"Look who's talking." Yoruichi closed her eyes again now that she had finally settled down. Soifon retaliated by saying at least she was smart enough to know it was impossible to run all the way down the stairs of a skyscraper, to which Yoruichi threatened to bite her for. This conversation continued with both of them unaware that they were being watched by two people talking in hushed tones from the doorway behind them.

"What do you make of her then?" Kisuke's eyes glinted ominously in the light.

"She's a stiff one, that's for sure." Kukaku folded her arms as she observed the new couple's conversation calming down. Kisuke nodded once in agreement to her comment.

"I dunno…she relaxes around her after a while." Kisuke pointed out.

"It's a strange dynamic." She commented making it sound like the relationship wouldn't last long.

"They look good together. Besides, I thought _you_ liked her." He glanced at Kukaku to see her glaring at him, "I know, I know, you won't officially like her until it's done." Kisuke raised his hands in defeat before turning away from the doorway.

"You'll do it right?" Kukaku called after him, "The background check?"

"I ran it this morning, gonna go check the results now." Kisuke waved back to her in confirmation while he continued on his way down the corridor. "I'll let you know if I spot anything unusual." He added on quickly before Kukaku could tell him to do so.

Kukaku sighs and watches him vanish into one of the side rooms with a grim expression before she walked into the main living room. When she enters, she notices Soifon become aware of her presence and straighten up against the chair. Kukaku moves past them both on the sofa, taking in the sight of Yoruichi sleeping across Soi and nods once in acknowledgment to Soifon before hopping onto the spare sofa placed at a right angle to the first one.

"How she doing?" Kukaku asked, indicating to Yoruichi while picking the TV remote off the coffee table beside her.

"I think she may have caught the flu." Soifon did her best to act like having Yoruichi currently draped across her lap was not daunting in the slightest with Kukaku close by.

"Don't worry, she's been through worse than this, she'll be back to her usual cocky self in no time." Kukaku flipped through the channels, not really paying much to what was on them.

"What else has she been through?" Soifon couldn't resist taking the chance to learn anything more about Yoruichi's past.

"Enough for her to know that's she done messing around." Kukaku felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and was reading the text message from Kisuke in a matter of seconds. He had sent only one word to her, _'Clear.'_

"That wasn't as subtle as I hoped it would be." Soifon laughed to herself wile Kukaku put her phone away with a relieved smile.

"Yeah, not so much." Kukaku grinned at her and could see Soifon getting lost in her thoughts. "Hey, I wouldn't worry about it ok; she'll tell you about when she's ready."

"Yeah I guess…" Soifon trailed off, her eyes drawn back to Yoruichi asleep on her lap. Kukaku could tell Soifon was still not thoroughly convinced.

"Look, you guys had a rough start that's all. I'm betting you haven't told her things yet, right?" Soifon nods once to this, not surprised that Yoruichi's friend knew about their terrible start and she tried to squash down the thought that perhaps, it was too badly damaged for them to really start over. "See, Yoruichi just knows what she's looking for." Kukaku settled back down into the sofa, content that she had gotten her point across.

"…I don't know what I'm looking for…" Soifon answers truthfully, feeling very confused over her feelings. Kukaku glances back at Soifon to see her looking rather downcast.

"Then I suggest you find that out." Kukaku focuses back on the TV set and scrunches her face up in repulsion at seeing some sort of beauty show being broadcast. "Please God tell me you vote for changing the channel as well." Kuakaku pleaded, the sound of which snapped Soifon out of her thoughts.

"It cannot be changed fast enough." Soifon eagerly agreed when she too saw what was on the current channel and decided that whatever she was doing with Yoruichi could be worked out at a later point when she could really try and fix a label to it all.

Kukaku happily obliged in changing the channel and they settled for watching some nature show together and Kisuke returned eventually, apologising for being called away by work for so long and although nothing much was said apart from offhand comments about the show, Soifon enjoyed their company and the relaxed atmosphere in the room now that they had indeed calmed down as Yoruichi had told her.

Soifon looked down at Yoruichi still fast asleep in her lap, Soi's gaze softened when she studied how sleep rendered the playful, devilish woman into a sleeping angel. Soifon felt her own cheeks flare with warmth up at this thought but it was true. Yoruichi looked so innocent, so peaceful yet graceful at the same time that Soifon actually felt bad about waking Yoruichi up. Soi had to now though since she had waited until the last possible moment before she had to leave for the conference. She had hoped that Yoruichi would have woken up on her own terms but clearly, the illness had completely worn her out that she remained in a deep sleep.

"Yoruichi," Soifon did her best to gentle shake her awake with no luck. "Yoruichi, I have to go now." Soifon tried again with no improvement.

"No luck?" Kukaku and Kisuke had turned their attention on Soifon trying with no success to wake Yoruichi up. Soifon shook her head after another attempt failed and Kisuke moved over towards Soifon.

"Here," Kisuke lifted Yoruichi off Soifon bridal style. "She's put on some pounds." He grunted. Soifon nearly protested at the sharp movement in case Yoruichi woke up but the dark skinned woman barely even stirred.

"More likely you're getting weaker." Kukaku rolled her eyes at him and she stood up to show Soifon to the door now that she was free.

"Touché." Kisuke chuckled as he carried Yoruichi out of the TV room and along the corridor with Kukaku and Soifon following close behind. Soi was busy wondering where Kisuke was taking Yoruichi as they approached the front door but then he turned and started the climb upstairs and she realised he was going to put her to bed. A familiar knot of jealously formed in the pit of her stomach, only Soifon didn't know if it was the fact someone else was being that close to Yoruichi or if it was because Yoruichi had someone there to care for her.

"You wait any longer, you will be late." Kukaku called out to Soifon just as Kisuke reached the top of the stairs and vanished from her sight around the corner. They exchanged customary thanks and goodbyes and Soifon felt the knot in her stomach tighten since she didn't get to say goodbye to Yoruichi.

"And tell Yoruichi that I –I…" Soi paused, uncertain of what she would say to Yoruichi. Kukaku looked at her expectantly. "Tell her I hope she gets better soon." She finished, only the strange tightness did not go away when Kukaku nodded in confirmation. "A-and that I'll call her when possible." Soifon tagged on quickly just before Kukaku closed the door. It wasn't much but saying that out loud eased her mind and body greatly and it felt like she could relax again.

That in itself was enough for her to ponder over throughout the conference, the remainder of the day and whenever she found her mind wandering during mundane office tasks. Kukaku's words accompanied this thought process as well. Yoruichi knows what she's looking after while she had mainly gone out that night since she had too much free time to consciously realise she preferred woman over men. _Why didn't I just take up a hobby of some sort instead,_ Soifon sighed. _We make a great pair, she's wanting something serious and here's me wanting to occupy free time._ With that outlook, Soifon knew it would never last long with Yoruichi…_ unless…unless something changes. Maybe I'm not experimenting…maybe I do want something…more._ Soifon remembered the pang of jealously and longing at seeing Kisuke carry Yoruichi upstairs and how she had never had that, not since she was a child. _I've never been lonely before so why would I start now?_

"Urrr-Ragh!" Soifon moaned loudly out of frustration and dropped her head forward onto her desk with a sharp bang and welcomed the stinging pain, hoping it would clear her thoughts for her. With her thoughts still buzzing around constantly, Soifon rolled her head to the side, not bothering to lift it off the desk at all. She was now staring at the side of the smart office phone beside her.

Although Soifon hadn't seen Yoruichi since the impromptu meal at Kisuke's house two weeks ago, they had talked to one another by phone a few times. Soifon called first a few days afterwards to see how Yoruichi was feeling and as Soi guessed, Yoruichi had caught the flu and was still in recovery so the phone call didn't last long. Next, Yoruichi called when she had fully recovered, only Soifon had been too busy to meet up but after some coaxing, put Yoruichi on speaker phone as Soi worked late into the night. It was another new experience for Soifon to talk to someone for extended hours without it being work related and at first; Yoruichi had done most of the talking with offhand comments from Soi in return. Then Yoruichi put on the sappiest, love struck, dreamy voice she could muster and declared her undying love to Soifon, compared her to the stars and more, how she would do anything to prove her love and how to her, Soifon glowed brighter than the sun.

Silence followed after Yoruichi stopped talking.

Soifon stared at the phone and could only blink at it while she absorbed what just happened.

"What the hell was that?" Soifon burst out laughing simultaneously with Yoruichi's outburst through the phone, clearly unable to keep a straight face any longer at how ridiculous it had sounded. It worked though, it was just what was needed to break Soifon out of her silent work mode and to get her talking, even if it did start with them both mocking the typical romantic clichés. Yoruichi performed this same stunt for their last call 3 days ago now as well; she had to convince Soifon to keep her on speaker phone so that Soi could keep working, and it took another fake, over the top declaration of love to get Soifon to open up again but it did result in another long conversation between them both. Even Soifon had to admit that having someone to talk to made the work more enjoyable, the time seemed to pass by more quickly and Soi did wonder if the delay between the calls was another strategy Yoruichi employed since they never seemed to run out of things to talk about and Yoruichi joked about how this could be a regular thing for them, or at least, Soifon thought she had joked about it.

Right now, Soifon was hoping Yoruichi hadn't joked about it because she really wanted to talk about all things on her mind but didn't know where or how to start. _Picking up the phone would be a good start,_ she told herself since the last time she kept things to herself, it hadn't turned out well at all and Yoruichi had said she could approach her about anything, in fact she would prefer it if Soifon did talk to her.

Soifon focussed her attention back on the phone, mentally telling herself to simply reach out and pick it up when it started to ring. Not bothering to lift her head of the desk, Soifon picks up the phone haphazardly, already knowing that at this time in the evening, it could only be Yoruichi.

"Hi." Soi answers and immeditantly knows she didn't disguise her voice well enough.

"What's wrong?" Yoruichi's concerned voice comes through the phone, picking out the confusion in Soi's usually strong voice. _The million dollar question, _Soifon thought, feeling even more lost now that Yoruichi was waiting for her to answer. Soifon knew exactly what she wanted to say, she wanted to tell Yoruichi that she was freaking out only she didn't want to blurt it out like that, she wanted to find a more tactful approach.

"I'm freaking out." Soifon gets out before her mind can play catch up and stop the words forming, _oh yes, very tactful, well done. _She congratulates herself sarcastically.

"What? Why, did something happen?" Yoruichi presses her from over the phone while Soifon runs her free hand through her hair in exasperation, still unable to think of where to begin. "Let's meet up." Yoruichi's voice breaks the silence between them, obviously recognising this as something more important than a phone call could give justice to. Soifon glanced down at the barely touched work she had been sprawled across moments before and agreed to meet Yoruichi at the bridge in the park, situated in the city.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi had been near the park when she called Soifon so was not surprised that she arrived at the bridge before Soifon. She had chosen the park on that basis and because as far as evenings go for around the end of autumn and the start of winter, it was a rather pleasant one. She also hoped that the outside scenery would help clear Soi's mind and by the sound of things, a break from that building was needed. Obviously a few other people scattered around the park were also trying to enjoy the last moments of sun the day had to offer, a couple walking off nearly out of eyesight, a man watching the ducks eat some bread across the bridge and Soifon coming into view across the green grass straight ahead of Yoruichi.<p>

"Soi!" Yoruichi called out to her, waving as well to make sure was she seen and was glad she decided to wear her favourite orange jacket today so she knew Soifon would spot her easily. That's when she heard the unmistakable sound of a hammer clicking into place, signifying that a gun is ready to fire.

Yoruichi freezes mid wave at the sound, recognising it instantly and knew it came from directly behind her. She slowly turns her head around to the side, hoping the movement won't startle the gun holder so that she could get better look at the situation she was in.

"Don't move." The man retorts gruffly and shoves the point of the gun into her side; it takes a lot of Yoruichi's willpower to not recoil from the sharp jab just above her right hip bone. She doesn't recognise the voice at all and if she had been able to get a better look at the person welding the gun before it was pressed into her body, Yoruichi could have assessed if it was possible to take him down. Now though, she didn't want to risk it, more so since her eyes caught Soi's look of confusion cross her face. Soifon was still too far away to make out exactly what was going on between herself and the man standing behind her but it was enough for her to quicken her pace towards them both.

"Alright, I won't move." Yoruichi confirms with her hand still frozen in mid-air from waving at Soifon, determined to just cooperate and hope he leaves before Soifon gets any closer to the danger.

"Where's your money?" He grumbles, thrusting the gun into her side again and she really hopes this man can keep good control over his trigger finger now that the gun is ready to fire.

"My pocket." Yoruichi responded evenly while trying to shake her head at Soifon to make her stop advancing, she's well within range of the gun now, barely a stone's throw away from them on the bridge. Yoruichi locks her body in place as the man shoves his hand into her back pocket, revulsion fills her at how he almost keeps it there longer than necessary since it's the wrong pocket and therefore empty.

"It's in my front pocket." She tells him. The thought of his hand going into her front pocket was more than she could stand and she moved reflexively to reach for it herself.

A loud bang rings through the air.

"YORUICHI!" Soifon screams.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ** I hope that chapter was worth the long delay for which I'm sorry but least you know I haven't forgotton about this story :)  
>And as usual, I hope you enjoyed reading this update.<p> 


	12. Staying Calm, Part 2

**Hunted  
>Staying Calm, Part 2<br>**

Yoruichi falls to the ground and manages to throw out her left hand to steady herself into a crouched position, her right hand clamps down on the bullet wound to apply as much pressure to the injury as possible. She can feel the blood pouring out of her body, covering her hand in the slippery life fluid and making it hard to keep it pressed tightly over the wound. Something clatters to the ground beside her and Yoruichi tilts her head to the side to see it's the gun and hears the man take off, sprinting away from the scene as fast as his feet can carry him. Soifon is at her side within seconds and Yoruichi guessed the shooter wanted to get away before Soifon could identify his features clearly and get him arrested.

What happened in seconds played out in slow motion for Yoruichi, her hand knocked into the man's gun wielding arm as she reached down to her front pocket. It dislodged the gun from her side by only a little but enough that when the man pulled the trigger it was pointing at an angle and not directly at her side. Yoruichi felt the bullet puncture her skin and it rip right through her to burst out the other side. Compared to previous injuries she had received this was barely anything; in fact she compared it more to a needle being passed through cloth but it was still painful enough to cripple her, even if only for a moment.

"Shit! God Yoruichi! Are you alright?" Soifon crouched down beside Yoruichi and helped keep her steady, trying to assess the injury herself but there was too much blood staining the orange jacket to tell how bad it really was.

"It's alright, I'm alright." Yoruichi gritted her teeth against the pain and knew it partly true, she was very lucky her movement knocked the gun otherwise it would have been a whole lot worse.

"What do you mean it's alright? You've been shot!" Soifon exclaims frantically and whips out her phone within seconds and is demanding that an ambulance arrives as soon as possible. Afterwards she tears her jacket off and gets Yoruichi to move her hand away and she places the jacket over the wound, pressing down on the area as Yoruichi had been doing, only better since she could easily reach it. "There's so much blood…" Soifon panicked as she felt her jacket beneath her fingers slowly absorbing Yoruichi's blood.

"Don't tell me, you're the squeamish type?" Yoruichi joked weakly though couldn't stop the painful moan escaping from her mouth at Soifon pushing down on the wound, trying to contain the bleeding.

"Sorry I didn't – Wait, what are doing? Stop!" Soifon's eyes widened in horror at Yoruichi starting to stand back up and it took all of Soi's weight to pull her back down and keep her from moving.

"It's alright, I can still walk." Yoruichi pointed out like getting shot was an everyday occurrence for her.

"They told me not to move you! That it could make you worse!" Soifon all but shouted at a bewildered looking Yoruichi and quickly recovered the wound with her jacket now that Yoruichi had stopped trying to stand up.

"Ok, I won't move, I'll stay still." Yoruichi spoke to Soifon calmly; catching those angry silver eyes with her own and can tell straight away it wasn't enough to calm Soifon down. They wait for the medics to arrive in the uncomfortable silence that fell between them both where Yoruichi felt like if she so much as breathed too loudly it would set Soifon off since she snapped at her to be quiet and save her energy whenever she tried to talk to Soifon. The tension between them grew even more once the medics arrived and Soifon told them about how Yoruichi tried to move and then she had to put up with them lecturing her as well while they did their best to patch her up during the ride back to the hospital. Yoruichi couldn't help but feel a little relieved when they arrived at the hospital and the doctors took over her treatment, shooing Soifon from the room so they could work without distraction and giving Yoruichi a little break from Soifon's cold, unyielding gaze.

Through the light haze created from the combination of medicine given to her, Yoruichi was busy trying to work out what she could possibly have done to get Soifon so angry with her and she couldn't recall saying anything that could have upset Soifon which left only one thing, when she had tried to stand up. _Surely that one act couldn't have made Soifon this angry…could it?_ Yoruichi had stood up because she could and knew from personal experience she could have made it out the park before needing to rest again but then again, to Soifon it was a reckless act…_maybe that's it…_Yoruichi thought, _she's angry at being reckless…_ The full effect of the sedative and pain blocker kicked in and Yoruichi simply decided that she could worry about Soifon later.

* * *

><p>Kukaku rounded the corner with Kisuke, both paying attention to all the signs labelling which way they needed to go.<p>

"These places are always a maze." Kukaku groaned, they had already gotten lost on the third floor before they had to ask a nurse for help. "You're sure it's room fourteen? I don't want a repeat of what happened earlier." Kukaku warned Kisuke.

"Yep, this is where the nurse told us she'd be, just ahead of us." He stopped when he saw someone sitting outside the door he guessed was Yoruichi's room. "Yep, we're at the right place." He confirmed and Kisuke followed his gaze to see Soifon sat in one of the chairs that lined the corridor.

"Hey Soifon." Kukaku announced, clearly startling Soifon, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you there, thought you saw us coming." Kukaku apologised to her.

"Wha – oh no, it's fine." Soifon told them half heartily, clearly distracted over something. Both Kukaku and Kisuke shared a look and shifted uncomfortably from the silence. Kukaku nudged him, indicating that he should say something to her.

"Erm how are you doing?" Kisuke asked tentatively.

"I'm fine; Yoruichi was the one who got shot." Soifon responded monotonously. Kukaku shot Kisuke a look, believing he could have come up with something more original than that question. Kisuke just shrugged hopeless since he doubted anything they said to her, would not make her feel better.

"Yeah…about that, what happened? I was told she was mugged." Kukaku decided to go ahead and ask since it's clear she couldn't rely on Kisuke making Soifon feel any better.

"That was pretty much it." Soifon confirms impassively, "The guy moved up behind her, Yoruichi said he wanted her money and he shot her. He ran off when I got to her, called the ambulance and their giving her stiches right now. Apparently the bullet passed right through her side, they called her lucky for it just clipping her." Soifon relayed the details, skipping all the long detailed medical stuff the nurse had rambled on about to her about which drugs they were using on her and that she didn't need to be put in for surgery since it was minor injury.

"Well that's a relief." Kisuke smiled and sat down beside Soifon happily, all his anxiety for Yoruichi's wellbeing gone now that he knew she was doing alright.

"That woman's got more lives than a cat." Kukaku muttered through a half smile, also relieved though didn't sit down; she was quite content to remain standing. Kisuke, who had been watching Soifon's hard expression, spoke to her again.

"Was that the first time you've seen someone get shot?" Soi whipped her head round at him and locked eyes with his, stunned.

"Kisu-" Kukaku hissed at him but Soi's answer stopped her.

"Yes." Soifon told them and silence fell upon the group again.

"Well shit, you're just in shock kid." Kukaku exclaimed, again relieved to know the reason why Soifon was acting so cold.

"Kid?" Soifon asked, scrunching her face up in discomfort to this newly assigned nickname.

"Only cause you're so small." Kukaku explained.

"If you start on the small jokes, I'll start on the tall ones." Soifon retaliated as Kisuke leaned back in the chair, spreading his arms out along the back to make himself comfortable.

"Ahh, I remember the first time I saw a gun fire." He said wistfully, interrupting them both with a dreamy expression planted across his face. "It was just past my eighth birthday party."

"He was 15." Kukaku told Soifon, Kisuke pretended not to hear her and continued proudly on with his story.

"I courageously leapt in front of my friends, ready to take the bullet!"

"He dived to floor behind us all." Kukaku corrected.

"I showed such bravery."

"He wet himself." Kukaku finished and Kisuke chose not to carry on, leaving Soifon to decide which rendition was the right one and from what she knew of the man so far, she could easily picture both of them taking place.

All of their attention went to the door opening that belonged to Yoruichi's room and they greeted the doctor that stepped out and explained that they did all they could and that the wound has been stitched up. He gives them a run down on what she has to avoid so the injury can recover at a better pace and that she will have to return in ten days' time to have the stitches removed. They thank him for his work and then pile through the door; Soifon hangs back a little while Kisuke and Kukaku swarm around Yoruichi's bed with Yoruichi herself, looking very pleased to see them all as well though her smile falters slightly when she sees Soifon's hard expression. Kukaku jumps right into questioning Yoruichi about every little detail of what happened, drilling her for all the information she can get. Kisuke calls her off when it's clear Yoruichi didn't get a good look at the man at all and he says they should just be thankful that Yoruichi wasn't seriously hurt but this sets Kukaku off on lecturing Yoruichi about being more careful.

"If she didn't tell you off, you wouldn't know she cared." Kisuke laughed when Yoruichi looked at him to save her from Kukaku's scolding.

"Then she must really love me." Yoruichi joked back.

"Oh god you found me out, I mean I just can't help myself around you." Kukaku plays along dramatically and Yoruichi puckers up her lips for a kiss from her. "Oh no, I'll leave that to your girlfriend." Kukaku looked back at where Soifon was standing and knew not to expect any witty comment back due to the hard look in her eyes. Kukaku looks between them both Yoruichi and Soifon then back at Yoruichi questioningly as if she was saying, _'alright, what happened between you two then?'_

Yoruichi shrugged back at her in answer, completely baffled herself, _'I don't know, I'm the one who was shot after all.'_

Kukaku rolled her eyes at her, _useless you are, _and then shifted her gaze over to Soifon, _sort it out._ She moved towards the door, towing Kisuke along with her. "Come on; let's go see if anything was found from that gun they brought in." and Kisuke had time to quickly call out that they'd catch up with them later before they left Yoruichi and Soifon alone together. Yoruichi carefully pushes herself back up against the pillows while she tries to find a good way to approach Soifon and find out what is bothering her when Soifon spoke first.

"What did she mean by that?" Soifon asks, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Probably trying to see who it belonged to at a guess." Yoruichi responds simply.

"What, how can she do that?" Soifon asked sceptically.

"I dunno… police can get sales info so they're probably gonna find out which store the gun came from. You'd have to ask Kukaku for all those details." Yoruichi explained simply.

"Kukaku's a police office?" Soifon in stunned by this news, not once remembering it being mentioned at all. "How come I've never seen her in the uniform?"

"I think if she wore it around me all the time, it would give away the fact that she's protecting me." Yoruichi had to resist the urge to chuckle at this fact.

"What, she's your – you have a bodyguard?" Soi's confusion swiftly turned into anger, "Since when did you need a bodyguard! Just what the hell am I getting into with you!" Soifon snapped at her, effectively shocking Yoruichi into a perplexed silence and obviously, she did not recover fast enough for Soi's taste because she stormed out of the room, ignoring Yoruichi's calls for her to stay.

Yoruichi wanted to get up and go after her only she knew that it would be too much strain on her injury and then she'd only be confined to bed longer than before so she could do nothing but watch Soifon go reluctantly. Yoruichi did try calling Soifon after waiting what she believed would be an appropriate amount of travel time, she doubted Soifon would answer if she was driving since it was illegal but she still didn't get an answer. Yoruichi might have had time to feel angry at Soifon for storming out and hardly seeming to care that she had been shot except she was just completely and utterly confused over Soifon storming out to even begin thinking like that. Thankfully, both Kisuke and Kukaku helped defend Soifon when they returned and Yoruichi told them what had happened, it meant that they liked Soifon or were starting to like her, either way Yoruichi was glad to have them there.

"I think it was a bit too much for her to take all in one day." Kisuke shared his theory with them, "She looked almost lost, give her some time and try calling again in a day or so. You said that seemed to work best with her after all." He reminded Yoruichi.

"He's right," Kukaku agreed. "What was your first gut reaction when you realised there was a gun pointing at you?" Kukaku asked.

"Take him out." Yoruichi answered automatically like it was nothing, wondering why Kukaku would ask her that since it was an obvious answer.

"Exactly whereas Soifon's instinct would probably tell her to duck or put her hands up in surrender." Kukaku concluded.

"Nah I don't think so," Yoruichi thought out loud even though she was slowly being won over by their point of view, "She knows how to fight, she's a strong person."

"The difference though, is that you've had to use your skills in real situations, from the way she acted I don't think she has. Remember, it takes some time getting used to those kind of situations." Kisuke pointed out.

"You're right," Yoruichi smiled at him gratefully, "Oh I was not looking forward to this." she sighed through a stretch and winced from overtaxing her right side. Yoruichi knew it had reached the point with Soifon where she would have to tell her. "I wasn't worried about telling her before only now…after the way she stormed out over something as small as this… I don't know…"

"You know we're here for you." Kisuke pattered her shoulder reassuringly.

"Urgh, what do I tell her?" Yoruichi moaned, already knowing what she should say.

"The truth." Kukaku said, confirming this.

"What happens if she…" Yoruichi couldn't finish her sentence; even the thought of not being able to be with Soifon anymore was too powerful. Yoruichi was doing her best to downplay her emotions and not push Soifon but she was left always wanting more from her. This necessarily didn't mean Yoruichi was having a hard time controlling herself around Soifon, in fact one kiss was more than enough to recall the countless they shared on the night they first met that Yoruichi was always left her breathless. It meant she was having a hard time not asking for more time with Soifon, the odd phone call every other day accompanied by a date after a few weeks was simply not enough. Yoruichi couldn't get enough of Soi's company and would gladly move in with her if given the chance so the idea of telling Soifon everything and losing her at this point, was not something Yoruichi was eager to go through.

"If necessary, her silence will be bought and of course there are the legal forms that mean we can have her arrested for breaking that silence." Kukaku answered.

"And after that?" Yoruichi grumbled unhappily.

"After that…we all go back to our lives." Kukaku shrugged and Yoruichi scoffed at what little life she would have. She would be trapped in that dingy, gloomy flat, drinking the days away till Kukaku would try and make her feel useful again. When that failed, Kisuke would suggest a fresh start in a new area and the same thing would start again, only she doubted Kukaku would be with them. Knowing her luck, she'd get some stuffy, know it all cop who would want to control her every move.

"Hey now, you don't even know if that will happen. You said yourself, Soi's a strong person, just give her some time and she could surprise you." Kisuke tried to cheer her up with little success.

"No one wants the trouble I bring." Yoruichi mumbled and rolled onto her left side, turning her back to them, a clear sign she was done talking. Kukaku gave a weak smile to Kisuke and got up, giving his shoulder a pat.

"Can you stay with her tonight?" she asks, to which he nods. "Great thanks, I'll head home and get some decent sleep for tomorrow." Kukaku finishes, leaving Kisuke to keep an eye on Yoruichi. Not that Yoruichi really cared at that point, she didn't say anything else and drifted in and out of sleep while he sat playing around on his phone that was meant to be switched off, they only spoke to the nurses that came round on the check-ups.

There really wasn't any need for Kisuke to have stayed with her since the hospital's security would have been more than enough for any kind of threat during the night, especially since it had been a simple mugging that Yoruichi pegged it down to Kukaku's over protectiveness kicking in and the fact that both of them escorted her home when she was discharged the following day confirmed this.

"You guys didn't need to do this." Yoruichi told them both as they helped her up the stairs to her flat, she said this but was secretly glad they were, she still felt miserable over Soifon. She had tried calling her again but had been put straight through to voice mail.

"It's our pleasure." Kisuke chimed in happily as he stepped over the usual man slumped on the second floor stairs. "Is he alive?" Kisuke glanced back at him curiously.

"Oh he's fine." Yoruichi reassured him, "Aren't you Toru?" she called loudly back to the man. There was a slurred, half-hearted attempt at speech from the man before he gave up and went silent again. "See." Yoruichi smiled at Kisuke.

"This place isn't so bad; you're already getting to know your neighbours." Kukaku teased.

"Oh yeah, we all get together every Sunday for tea and crumpets." Yoruichi replied back sarcastically and they all entered her flat, Kukaku placed Yoruichi's painkillers on the bench in the kitchen and Kisuke deposited himself on the sofa.

"You should get a TV." He said after looking around the flat. Yoruichi had still done nothing with it at all and it looked as decrepit as ever, apart from the sofa that still looked brand new.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Yoruichi responded with no intention whatsoever to get one. She hated every little thing about this place and not refurbishing it was her own personal form of rebellion against the higher powers keeping her there.

Kisuke and Kukaku kept Yoruichi company for a few hours and attempts to plan something for Christmas was done with little success since it was still a month off and none of them were feeling very Christmassy. Yoruichi made an extra show of being tired so that they would leave sooner than later because she wanted to be left alone so she could sulk over Soifon in peace. When they did leave, she was more than happy to get carefully into bed, it was still too early for sleep but she didn't care about that.

* * *

><p>Soifon was in a word, miserable.<p>

Her cure for this was to throw herself deeper into her work and shut out the world. It was proven tactic that always worked for her only now, thoughts of Yoruichi managed to sneak up on her whenever she let her guard down. Soifon had thought she had experienced all the lows one person could possibly feel but after what had happened, after the way she had acted, she had found a new one. It felt ten times worse when she recalled Yoruichi's hurt expression in her sorrowful, golden eyes at seeing Soi storm out of the room.

_I am scum; _Soifon thought as she sat in her car and hid her head in her hands, _I am the scum of the earth._ She revisited that hospital room for what must be the thousandth time and watched herself yelling at Yoruichi and storm out seconds later.

She had gone straight back to her office after leaving the hospital to let her anger cool off and wished it hadn't. It was replaced with embarrassment at the way she had acted and she knew if she had only been able to stay calm she wouldn't have been sat in her office all night long.

Guilt followed quickly behind and added to the embarrassment; after all it wasn't Yoruichi's fault for being in the park at the time of the shooter. _No, it was mine, _Soifon blamed herself for Yoruichi getting shot for, if she had kept her mouth shut about freaking out when Yoruichi called, she wouldn't have suggested to meet Soi in the park by the bridge, where the shooter was waiting for her. Just as it wasn't Yoruichi's fault that seeing her lying in the bed at the hospital reminded Soifon about how powerless she had been, how weak she had felt at the sound of that gun firing and how she had screamed out like a helpless, little girl at seeing Yoruichi fall to the ground.

When Yoruichi's friends arrived, Soifon couldn't work out why Kisuke and Kukaku were smiling at her and were even trying to cheer her up instead of accusing her for hurting their friend. _Why aren't they yelling at me? Why aren't you trying to hurt me for what I did? _She thought as she watched them move around Yoruichi's bed when they were allowed in. She had hurt Yoruichi and they were being nice to her, she couldn't wrap her head around it. Discovering that Kukaku was not only a police officer but Yoruichi's protector broke what little restraint she had left over her control and she had snapped. She knew she made a mistake the second the words left her mouth and unable to take the hurt, confused look in Yoruichi's eyes any longer, Soifon made a break for it and didn't stop. She barricaded herself in her office and refused entry to anyone and ignored Yoruichi's calls. It served to do nothing but make her feel even worse that she wanted to talk to someone about it all, she wanted to get it all out so the horrible ache in her chest would vanish for good and for that to happen, the person needed to be Yoruichi. Soifon also knew that if she was going to talk to Yoruichi again, she wanted it to be done in person.

She drove back to the hospital to learn that Yoruichi had been discharged and unable to recall Yoruichi's address, Soifon headed to Kisuke's place and found the place empty. With nowhere else to turn to, she sat on his doorstep, punishing herself by waiting in the cold weather instead of returning to her car and she stayed on Kisuke's doorstep for many hours. She was about to give up to the need for food when a car pulled up onto the driveway and a surprised looking Kisuke got out, waving to her happily. Not wanting to waste any time, Soifon asked him where Yoruichi was and if he would be so kind to provide directions on how to get there and planned on leaving right away if her stomach had chosen that particular moment to grumble really loud.

"I won't tell you unless you allow me to get you food first." He declared his terms and not wanting to impose herself on him again, Soifon was really tempted to refuse if it hadn't been her last option at finding Yoruichi without calling her first. She accepted, he treated her to a frozen pizza and presented Soifon with a piece of paper, Yoruichi's address clearly printed across it. "Don't wear her out too fast ok, she's meant to be resting." He added with a teasing grin. Soi knew her face exploded into a bright red blush and it was all she could do to get out as fast as she could before he implied something else.

It's where Soifon was now, sat in her car, staring up at the run down block of apartments while trying to work up the courage to go find Yoruichi's. _It's why I'm here after all, _she reminded herself. _Even if she slams the door in my face, at least I know I tried; _she thought with a sigh and got out of her car, willing herself forward with every step. She passed a man leaning against the railing of the second floor stairway, his eyes fixed on some point of the horizon with some kind of alcoholic beverage in his hand. His outfit was scruffy and unkempt, as was his dark matted hair. He grunted to Soifon and carried on drinking while she did her best to get by him a whole lot faster.

It did not take long for her to reach the door with the faded '33' number on it, signifying it as Yoruichi's. Soi could feel her heart pounding harder against her ribcage, her mind picturing the many ways Yoruichi could possibly dump her as she knocked on the door.

Nothing happens and Soifon knocks again, a little loud than before and the door opens as she does.

"I already told you, I am not selling my – Soi?" Yoruichi answers the door yelling and stops at the sight of Soifon, looking quite dumbfounded to see her standing outside her door.

"…Err…Selling?" Soifon asks after a pause between them where they both took in the sight of each other.

"Oh erm when some of my more…colourful neighbours saw me return with a prescription bag they err..." Yoruichi struggled to find a nice way of saying that they saw her as a way of getting more drugs.

"They want to buy your meds?" Soifon asked surprised at first though knew that some would do worse to get their next fix. Yoruichi nodded then quickly invited her inside when she realised she had not done so already.

"What else are neighbours for?" Yoruichi joked and shut the door once Soifon stepped inside and turned around to Soifon looking awkwardly out of place, like she didn't expect to get invited inside which is exactly what Soifon was thinking. "So erm…how you been?" Yoruichi asked lamely, not really sure how this would turn out.

"I shouldn't have ran out like I did. I'm sorry!" Soifon blurts out and launches into her reasoning behind her actions and that she was so sorry she hadn't done anything to stop her getting hurt earlier and for running out. Soifon made sure it very clear she wasn't angry with Yoruichi at all and the only reason she didn't answer her calls was because she was ashamed at how she had handled the entire situation. She spoke as fast as she could to prevent Yoruichi interrupting and telling her to get out or something worse. When she had said all she could possibly say, she watched Yoruichi take all of it in, could see the confusion replaced with understanding and finally…acceptance. Soifon had to do a double take but it certainly looked like Yoruichi was smiling at her warmly.

"That's what this is? You've been blaming yourself?" Yoruichi asks and Soifon nods once. "Oh Soi, this wasn't your fault." Soifon looks at her disbelieving and was about to launch into a speech that clearly showed it was her fault when Yoruichi spoke first. "Hey, listen to me. It is not your fault. If anything it's mine for moving when he warned me not to. You're the one who called for the ambulance, remember, you're the reason I got help as fast as I did." Yoruichi reassures Soifon.

"So…you're not mad at me?" Soifon tries tentatively, quite certain things would back fire any second now between them.

"No, no of course I'm not mad at you." Yoruichi chuckles lightly and Soifon looks into Yoruichi's warm, golden eyes. In just a few words, all the fear, all the pain and embarrassment she had been feeling melted away until Soifon was left wanting to do one thing and one thing only. It must have shown on her face for Yoruichi gestures for Soifon to come over to her. "Come here, you daft little bee." Yoruichi smiles at her brightly; Soifon returns the smile gratefully and very aware to make sure she avoided Yoruichi's injury, hugged her, burying her head into the soft, thick hoodie Yoruichi was wearing. Yoruichi titled Soi's head up towards her and kissed Soifon fully on the lips, pleasant shivers ran from the nape of her neck and all the way down Soi's spine from feeling Yoruichi's tongue dance across her lips, lightly at first but it became more frantic as the tanned woman begged entrance to her mouth, Soifon granted her access. They only pulled apart when the need for air became too great and they stood, panting for breath together, Soi couldn't help but smile and Yoruichi did the same and soon they were chuckling at each other's attempts to regain control of their breathing.

"Told you telling me things was better than keeping them bottled inside." Yoruichi murmured, unable to keep the grin from breaking out across her face.

"Yeah…well this place needs a TV." Soifon shot back.

"That seems to be a popular opinion today." Yoruichi commented, remembering that Kisuke said the exact same thing earlier.

"Kisuke warned me about how bad this place looked before I came here." Soifon explained.

"I doubt anything could prepare you for this place." Yoruichi had to suppress a shiver as she glanced around at the dull, stained, peeling wallpaper that provided the only decoration in the flat.

"Why don't you do something about it then if you hate it so much?" Soifon asked.

"Cheaper to burn this place to the ground and start anew." Yoruichi laughed.

"Then just move, simple." Soifon explained.

"That can't happen anytime soon." Yoruichi answered and Soifon couldn't help but notice how slowly it took her to respond, like she had taken great care over how she had worded that. She looked at Yoruichi with a puzzled expression. "Can I explain it another time? For now I want to enjoy this time with you." Yoruichi pleaded to Soifon. Despite wanting to know what was meant by the comment, when she heard the pleading tone in Yoruichi's voice all Soifon could do was nod and kiss Yoruichi softly on the lips, hoping that it would make her smile again.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi had been in the stages of waking up for a good while but she really saw no reason to getting up when she felt so happy in her bed with Soifon's head nestled into the crock of her left arm. Yoruichi chuckled when she had first woke up and saw the state of Soifon's tangled limbs and the way she had twisted herself around. They had stayed up together talking about all kinds of things, Soifon wanted to get updated on Yoruichi's condition down to the last detail and Yoruichi listened to Soi's exploits in trying to find where Yoruichi lived and couldn't stop smothering Soifon with kisses when she told Yoruichi how long she sat on Kisuke's doorstep and Yoruichi tickled Soifon until she agreed to sleep beside Yoruichi instead of going home. Soifon held the belief that it had been unfair move on Yoruichi's part since she couldn't fight back in fear of catching Yoruichi's injury, this only earned her another tickle round and they eventually drifted off beside each other on top of the covers. For being such a small person, Soifon did her best to occupy the entire bed as she slept since whenever Yoruichi shifted away from Soifon for the extra room, Soifon managed to wriggle back at her side within seconds, like she was drawn to Yoruichi's body heat. Yoruichi was making a mental note to try and test this theory another night when she felt Soifon stirring beside her.<p>

"Morning sleepy bee." Yoruichi murmured lightly.

"Mmmonrning." Soifon moaned back and groggily lifted her head up slightly. From her position, Soifon could just make out the time on Yoruichi's bed side clock. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw that she was a whole hour late for work. "Oh god!" she exclaimed and was up and on her feet within seconds while Yoruichi was yet again, left blinking at the sight of Soifon rushing around and shoving her shoes on as fast as possible. "I have never been late, not once!" Soifon shrieked as she jammed the shoes on and tries to flatten out all the creases in her outfit with no success before giving up with a frustrated sigh.

"Will there be a morning where you don't wake up running away from me?" Yoruichi called out as Soifon was about to exit the bedroom. Soi paused in the doorway, giving Yoruichi an apologetic smile and continued running out the room. A few seconds later, Yoruichi heard the sound of her apartment door being opened and it swimming shut, signifying Soi's departure and Yoruichi flopped back down onto the mattress, not quite ready to get up with the same enthusiasm Soifon displayed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I had originally planned for the aftermath of the shooting to be more like the ending and light hearted but I felt miserable today so the characters were miserable. I hope the ending made up for it though if I bummed any of you guys out :)  
>Also, I don't think my next update will be anytime soon as I still have lots of work to do, if not more - I don't know where it's all coming from anymore XD<br>Last thing I have to say it, I hope you enjoyed reading this update!


	13. Calm Before The Storm

**Hunted  
>Calm Before The Storm<strong>

Kukaku was pleased to see that the restaurant was living up to its popular reputation as more and more people occupied the previously empty tables and booths, making enough noise to compensate for the remaining empty ones. Kukaku was also positive any conversations taking place could not be overheard by anyone and felt confident that included her own now that they were done playing catch up.

"So Nanao, Shunsui" Kukaku paused to take a sip from her drink while Nanao adjusted her glasses and Shunsui focused on the conversation for the first time since they arrived. "I'm going to have to ask that you limit your time around Yoruichi as much as possible." If either of them were surprised by this statement, they didn't show it at all, Nanao simply sat back in her chair and Shunsui smirked at how the real purpose of the meal had been revealed.

"You have nothing to worry about…Officer." Nanao responded coolly. "We have our own conditions to uphold after all."

"Urgh… rules and regulations." Kukaku muttered in exasperation and sank lower into the chair.

"Work load getting to you?" Shunsui smiled sympathetically.

"No it's gotten me nowhere and that's the problem." Kukaku allowed some of her exhaustion over the matter to show as she continued to speak. "We tried something a few months ago…it was meant to bring us answers, instead we got nothing…and that's all I can say on the subject. It's only because you're linked to this that I was able to say that much." Kukaku added on to make sure they understood not to go sharing that information with anyone.

"It's been what, maybe nine, ten years now? Maybe it's all over." Nanao suggested hopefully.

"The higher-ups must think so too otherwise we all wouldn't be here. That or they're hoping that gathering us all in one spot will draw him out." Shunsui added as on as an afterthought.

"Either way I'm looking forward to when we can finally sit everyone down together and have a meal without it involving paperwork." Kukaku daydreamed happily.

"How about a holiday, things are quiet enough; you sound like you could do with one." Shunsui suggested.

"I can't and even if I could I wouldn't, Yoruichi needs me here." Kukaku noticed the expectant look from Shunsui for her to continue only she hesitated, unsure of what to say since it wasn't really her place to share details about Yoruichi's relationship with Soifon.

"Come now, you can't stop there." Shunsui complained, "I mean it sounds like we're finally getting to the good part."

"Shunsui!" Nanao scolded him for prying into things.

"What? This is the first chance we've had to hear about the others in a long time and by the sound of things it will be the only chance we get for a while." Shunsui defended. His honest answer caught Nanao by surprise that she could do nothing but agree with him.

"I've missed you guys," Kukaku smiled at how the relationship between them hadn't changed a bit. "I'll let Yoruichi know you were asking about her."

"So how is she?" Shunsui prompted once more.

"…It's hard to tell," Kukaku answered truthfully, knowing full well that right now Yoruichi was no doubt going back and forth over what and how to tell Soifon, rethinking it through countless times and driving herself insane in the process. "You guys remember Ren right?" Kukaku watched Shunsui's and Nanao's expressions darken the moment they heard that name again.

"Unfortunately yes," Nanao answered begrudgingly though her eyes soon widened in shock. "She hasn't come back, has she?!"

"No, no, nothing like that." Kukaku quickly reassured them both. "I only mentioned her because this is the first time Yoruichi has tried dating anyone since then and she's worried about revealing her identity as it were."

"I don't blame her there." Shunsui muttered under his breath.

"Hmm…yes and it doesn't help that Soifon is a hard person to read." Nanao agreed, her mind trying to calculate how the situation could possibly play out as was Shunsui. Kukaku however, was wondering when they found out that Yoruichi and Soifon were dating since they hadn't told anyone outside of herself or Kisuke that they were a couple.

"How did you guys find out about them?" Kukaku questioned them, utterly confused, Yoruichi even told her that she only said hello to Nanao and nothing else.

"It's the only plausible conclusion that we could come to that explains Yoruichi and Soifon spending so much time together." Nanao shrugged off their reasoning as if it could be the only possible answer anyway.

"We haven't had it officially confirmed…until now that is." Shunsui grinned back at Kukaku.

"Alright, you got me there." Kukaku holds her hands up in mock defeat. "…Do you really have no idea how Soifon will react?" she asked them hopefully.

"Nope sorry, Soifon has kept to herself ever since she started working at Balance Industries. The only thing I can say for certain is that she has thrown her entire life into that company and nothing else…there are a lot of rumours about her though." Shunsui recalled some of the more crazy theories that circulated the office concerning Soifon. "They range from her being a runaway child to her being on the run from the law. I personally enjoy the version where she won this company in a game of cards one night."

"Hell if she's that lucky I'm glad I might get the chance to know her then." Kukaku chuckled.

"How much of the truth does Soifon know, as in has Yoruichi used a fake past?" Nanao interjected after thoroughly thinking it through to make sure she was right before getting Kukaku's hopes up.

"No Yoruichi has stuck to the truth as close as possible without actually telling her the truth." Kukaku explained, remembering that fact very well as both Kisuke and herself were against her doing so.

"That will rule out the shock of being lied to which should in theory, make things easier for Soifon to absorb." Nanao continued. "Plus this may ease your mind slightly, this is the first time we've seen or heard of Soifon taking interest in anyone outside of office hours. She may accept Yoruichi."

"I can only hope so." Kukaku replied hopefully and finished the remainder of her drink.

* * *

><p>Yoruichi examined her appearance in the bathroom mirror, she could see the sweat on her brow and the frown etched across her face in pain from the operation on the bullet wound. Yoruichi lifted up her top to reveal the bandage around her waist then gently pressed the palm of her hand onto her right side, hoping that her own body heat would somehow soothe the area.<p>

It was four days after the incident in the park and on the previous days, Yoruichi had been able to cope very well with the recovery process from the surgery, she could move around her flat for a good while without needing to rest but she had spent the whole night working out how she should approach Soifon that Yoruichi had gotten no sleep and eventually crashed out of exhaustion at nine o'clock in the morning. This interfered with the structured routine Yoruichi was meant to follow when taking her medication that when she finally woke up in the evening, she found it impossible to move at all and it took all of her will power to make it into the bathroom where she kept the prescriptions.

Yoruichi splashed cold water onto her face and enjoyed how its refreshing effects cooled her down while she waited for the medicine to kick in and it also washed away the last remnants of sleep from her system. It did not however wash away her fears and uncertainty of telling everything to Soifon. Yoruichi had made the decision to tell Soifon on Friday night, it was now Sunday and she had only spoken to Soifon once since she left her flat that morning and it was Soifon who had called her. Yoruichi was yet to pick up her phone with the intention of calling Soifon and Yoruichi also knew this had to change, the sooner she told Soifon, the sooner she could move past it and hopefully with Soifon still by her side.

Yoruichi limped out of the small, plain bathroom and headed for her mobile phone when someone knocked on her apartment door. Confused as to who exactly would be knocking at her door after nine o'clock at night, Yoruichi decided to ask who it was first before she opened the door just to be extra careful in her weakened state.

"It's me." Replied Kukaku's familiar voice, Yoruichi relaxed instantly and let her in, glad to have the extra company.

"What's that?" Yoruichi indicated to the shopping bag Kukaku had brought with her.

"It's that electric blanket you asked for." Kukaku explained and dropped the bag on top of the kitchen counters while noticing how bad Yoruichi looked, it was obvious she hadn't gotten any sleep in a while and Yoruichi had to limp over to the sofa as she muttered a quick thank you for the blanket. "Bad day?"

"No I just forgot to take my tablets earlier," Yoruichi collapsed gratefully onto her sofa. "I'm waiting for these ones to kick in. With a bit of luck that'll be any minute now." Yoruichi hoped to herself.

"What made you forget to take them?" Kukaku withheld her usual reprimanding statements since she had a good idea what the main reason was.

"I couldn't sleep last night." Yoruichi shrugged dismissively.

"Get it over with and tell her Yoruichi, it's the unknown that's doing you in, tell her and it's done with."

"I know." Yoruichi eyed her phone wearily and moved to pick it up. Kukaku watched Yoruichi hesitate and she felt a moment's regret at what she had done only her official side stamped it out soon enough, it had to be done and as Yoruichi's friend she was helping her through it as well by being here for her.

"I saw Shunsui and Nanao earlier." Kukaku hoped that taking a less direct path would prove more successful.

"Oh?" Yoruichi perked up, clearly eager for the distraction.

"They think you're overreacting." Kukaku deadpanned, believing this herself.

"Oh…" Yoruichi slumped back into the sofa, looking at anything but the phone right beside her. Kukaku rolled her eyes and left the kitchen area to join Yoruichi by the sofa and picked up the phone. Yoruichi looked up at Kukaku curiously as she held out the device to her.

"They also believe Soifon will tell you the same thing." Kukaku smiled and offered the phone reassuringly. Yoruichi took it with a forced half-smile; she didn't want the object in her hand at all because it gave away how much she was currently shaking. She did want to tell Soifon everything but the problem Yoruichi encountered was that the past fought back and that's exactly what was happening now. Her mind was being invaded by the past in the form of memories, memories Yoruichi would prefer to never think about again let alone relive how real they felt but now they were replaying in her head the second she woke up and they persisted to invade her dreams whenever Yoruichi was lucky enough to catch a few hours of sleep. Her mind and body were so worn out now that she could no longer distract herself from them anymore that she was currently remembering how quickly things turned to hell the last time she told someone about her past and it's all she could see taking place the second Soifon knew everything.

Any and all resolve Kukaku had used to tell herself this had to be done left her as soon as she noticed Yoruichi trembling and how her tired golden eyes had glazed over with unshed tears. Kukaku moved as if she was on autopilot from the need to help Yoruichi in any way possible. Kukaku removed the phone from Yoruichi's hand and knelt down in front of her friend in one motion so that she could gently wipe away the tears rolling down the side of Yoruichi's face. The contact startled Yoruichi out of the darkness she had been trapped in alone to see Kukaku's warm, caring and compassionate eyes fixed upon her.

"Come here," Kukaku spoke softly as she guided Yoruichi into a protective embrace that Yoruichi was all too grateful for as she struggled to stop herself from sobbing into Kukaku's shoulder. "I didn't realise you were having flashbacks again," Kukaku whispered apologetically as she held Yoruichi's trembling form in her arms. "How long have they been going on for?"

"Past few days." Yoruichi admitted, her voice was shaken and tears fell down her cheeks despite her doing her best to stop herself from crying.

"You should have said something." Kukaku tightened her hold on Yoruichi, ashamed that she hadn't noticed sooner and that she had assumed it was only to do with Soifon as to why Yoruichi had become so distant and worn out.

"I didn't want to bother you or Kisuke." Yoruichi sobbed as she did her best to dry her face on the crock of her arm.

"The only thing that bothers me is when you don't come to us for help you daft cat." Kukaku scolded her but was happy to see Yoruichi smile briefly at the use of her old nickname and made a mental note to use it more often if it made Yoruichi smile when she was upset since it is almost unnatural for Yoruichi to be anything but the happy, carefree person that she was. "Want me to stay here tonight?" Kukaku asked out of politeness more than anything since she didn't plan on leaving Yoruichi alone now.

"If you like." Yoruichi smiled in relief this time even though her voice was still sounded croaky and Yoruichi tightened her hold on Kukaku, glad to have her as a best friend. Both of them were startled by the sharp tapping of someone's knuckles knocking on the apartment door that they stared at it, confused as to who would be dropping by at such a late hour. "Did you invite Kisuke?" Yoruichi asked since it was rare for her to get visitors on the spur of moment.

"Oh god…" Realisation dawned on Kukaku's face as she recalled what plans she had set into motion earlier on in the day. "It's Soifon."

"What?" Yoruichi anxiously wiped any remaining tears from her face though knew it was still obvious she had been crying.

"I'm so sorry; I wanted to help you tell her. I didn't realise you were having flashbacks…I'm sorry, I invited her here." Kukaku tried to explain and apologise at the same time and realised she was most likely just confusing Yoruichi more so she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "My superior doesn't like the fact that Soifon has been left as an unknown for this long. I was told that if you don't tell her soon they would do so for you and I really didn't see Soifon taking the news so well if she found out from a bunch of lawyers." Kukaku watched Yoruichi nod in agreement to that and their attention was pulled to the door as Soifon knocked again. "Anyway, I bought you some extra time by saying you were doing it over the weekend and I called Soifon and asked her to meet us here. I was going to help you through it but that's before I knew how bad you really were." Kukaku explained hastily, "I'll send her away if you like; I can say that you're ill or something and we can wait for another time."

"Err…" Yoruichi tried to think rationally but the temptation to have the safety of Soifon being fully hers and not having to deal with any of this right now was very hard to resist that she found herself nodding to Kukaku before she was even aware of it. Kukaku nodded back understandingly and stood up which broke her protective hold on Yoruichi so that she could prepare herself to face Soifon when Yoruichi's hand snapped onto her wrist and held her in place. "Let her in- the door's open…" Yoruichi mumbled as fast as she could get the words out before she changed her mind again.

"I'm here for you ok." Kukaku took Yoruichi's hand in her own and squeezed it reassuringly, "The door's open Soifon. You can come on in." Kukaku called out towards the door. Yoruichi waited with baited breath for the door to open and it felt like she would be able to hear the sound of a pin drop in the moment of silence that it took for the door handle to slowly rotate open and for Yoruichi to see Soifon, still in one of her suits that she wore to work every day standing in her doorway.

Soifon knew something was wrong when she noticed how close Kukaku was standing to Yoruichi and that Yoruichi was holding on Kukaku as well. If that hadn't been enough to tell her that something had happened, Yoruichi's tense posture and her red puffy eyes told Soifon that she had been crying. Unsure of how to proceed and aware that both Yoruichi and Kukaku were looking at her, Soifon remained in the doorway, quite prepared to leave if requested though she'd much prefer to stay and see if there was anything she could do to help Yoruichi even if she had no idea how to do so.

"What's wrong?" Soifon tried to read Yoruichi's expression but Yoruichi refused to meet her gaze.

"Yoruichi has been meaning to tell you something for a while now and she would like to tell you now." Kukaku glanced down at Yoruichi to check that she was certain she really wanted to do this right now and received a brisk nod from Yoruichi in agreement.

Apprehension surged through Soifon and tightened her stomach muscles, her mind flowing with endless possibilities at what could be the cause of this reaction in Yoruichi if it was related to her past and it was clearly more than just _"I had a few fans go a little nuts…" _as Yoruichi had summed up in her own words previously. Soifon studied Yoruichi's tear stained face again and instead of wanting to know more now that she finally had the chance, Soifon found herself wanting to spare Yoruichi all of this and tell her she didn't care if it would help Yoruichi feel better. Compelled to settle the knot which had formed in her stomach, Soifon took a few tentative steps towards Yoruichi but her nerves got the better of her before she could bring herself to hug Yoruichi and Soifon mentally scolded herself for not being able to follow through with her attempt as she battled with her own emotional scarring from her past. This did however; grant Soifon a moment of empathy for Yoruichi as she was clearly going through this same battle right now only it seemed that Yoruichi was making more progress than herself if she was going to tell her.

"Are you sure you want to do this now?" Soifon spoke up since she wasn't able to demonstrate her concern.

"If I don't do it now, you'll just get a bunch of lawyers doing it for me in a couple of days anyway." Yoruichi answered bitterly at that thought and she finally made eye contact with Soifon since she had entered the room and Yoruichi could see the mixed emotions in Soi's silver eyes over the whole situation they had found themselves in.

"Lawyers? Why would there be Lawyers?" Soifon looked between Kukaku and Yoruichi in puzzlement. "Mind I suppose I'll find out soon enough." She muttered under her breath shortly after asking the question and before Yoruichi or Kukaku could work out a simple enough answer.

"Pretty much." Kukaku nodded along in agreement.

"Are you…staying?" Soifon directed to Kukaku, unable to think of any other way to word it, not that she didn't like Kukaku, it was more a case of Soifon not feeling like she could open herself up to Yoruichi in the way most likely needed right now with someone else watching their every move.

"Err…I could wait outside for a bit." Kukaku suggested, quite willing to do so if need be though now the conversation between them had reached an end as neither one of them could think of anything else to say now that a decision had been mutually agreed upon which let the uncomfortable silence stretch ever onwards. Kukaku clapped her hands firmly together and pointed at the door seeing as how neither Yoruichi nor Soifon seemed prepared to make the first move, "I'll be outside then." She confirmed and as Kukaku past a very nervous looking Soifon, she patted her reassuringly on the shoulder, "Oh by the way," Kukaku glanced back them, "I'm right outside if you need me." _Just in case_, Kukaku added on mentally, knowing full well that they knew she was still there if they needed anything.

Both Yoruichi and Soifon appeared frozen in time as Kukaku surveyed the room one last time before she stepped outside and shut the door on them, hoping against hope that Shunsui and Nanao had been right about Soifon and that everything would go alright inside the apartment. Feeling very nervous herself for her friends, Kukaku hunted around in her jacket pockets searching for her packet of cigarettes and her lighter.

"Huh…" Kukaku realised something as she found what she was after and pulled a cigarette free from the packet. _I thought of Soifon as a friend…_ Kukaku studied the worn down engraving of the dragon wrapped around the lighter carefully, she ran her thumb across the faded scales as she remembered Yoruichi giving it to her the day they became friends. "Great…now I'm thinking about the past." She muttered with a sad smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Please forgive me for the massive delay!  
>I'd love to say the next update will be soon but there's no telling anymore atm, deadlines are approaching fast for uni work.<br>I hope this was worth the insanely long wait and again, my apologies for the delay.


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